MOBILE ADVERTISING, ADVERTISER PLATFORMS
Businesswire | April 11, 2023
Adludio, the global AI-powered platform delivering attention-led and data-driven mobile advertising, has secured a further £2 million investment from Mercia, following an initial investment of £4 million in 2021.
This new funding round will enable Adludio to capitalize on its rapid growth in the US and launch a new fully-automated version of its platform. Powered by AI and data science, this will offer marketers a one-stop-shop for the automated design and delivery of ad campaigns that guarantee engagement.
Having produced advanced mobile creative for major brands including Ford, Land Rover Jaguar, Estée Lauder, Nike, Adidas and Microsoft, the announcement will see Adludio help even more marketers win the battle for brand attention. Currently sharing its expertise and technology with the IAB to develop this field, Adludio is redefining attention as a metric for success.
Paul Coggins, Adludio’s CEO, said: “At a time when privacy regulation is increasingly limiting the use of personal data, our sophisticated and unique combination of creative, media and AI is leading brand performance on mobile. With this additional investment from Mercia, the next stage of our AI-led platform, offering fully-automated capabilities, will provide brands and agencies the chance to translate user attention into profit.”
Founded in 2015, the company now has a presence across five US cities – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Detroit - and also delivers services via resellers in Hong Kong and Singapore.
In 2022, Adludio achieved 50% growth in the US and, across the globe, has continued to increase its revenues. It has also boosted its management team with a number of leading industry figures, including Ian Liddicoat as Chief Technology Officer and Dave Ramsay as Chief Product Officer. The new version of Adludio’s platform, due to be launched in 2024, will fully automate many of its processes and offer customers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) product to manage their own campaigns.
This latest investment comes as the adtech industry contends with continued economic uncertainty, the introduction of stricter privacy rules in many countries as well as the declining use of cookies, and aims to help Adludio consolidate its position at the forefront of the market.
Mercia was investing from its Northern Venture Capital Trust (VCT) Funds. Martijn Kleibergen of Mercia said: “With stricter privacy rules, relying on ‘cookies’ to deliver targeted advertising is no longer a viable option. Adludio combines strong creative campaigns with algorithms that optimize campaigns in real time to engage consumers without using personal data. This investment will enable it to continue its growth in the US and expand its client base with the launch of its new self-service platform.”
About Adludio
Adludio is an AI-driven technology company that delivers premium mobile advertising. As the primary means of consuming content, mobile needs to deliver interactive experiences to engage audiences, but the majority of mobile advertising remains static. Combining data-driven creativity, proprietary technology and automation with pioneering engagement metrics, Adludio delivers privacy-compliant mobile campaigns with engagement at its heart. With offices in London, Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Detroit and Chicago, Adludio is defining the next generation of mobile brand solutions in North America and EMEA.
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ADVERTISER CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
Hello Sunshine | March 21, 2023
Hello Sunshine, a part of Candle Media, announced today the launch of Solar, an in-house social agency helping brands connect with women through story-driven advertising. Overseen by Maureen Polo (Hello Sunshine’s Head of Direct to Consumer), Solar is being led by agency veteran Jennifer Wiener (SVP, Solar) in close collaboration with new creative leadership, Teneille Craig (VP, Creative, Solar).
Hello Sunshine has a rich history of partnering with advertisers to shape female-focused commercial messaging that truly resonates. With Solar, brands will now have the opportunity to partner more deeply with Hello Sunshine and to drive story-led marketing that shapes culture, drives impact, and ultimately makes the world a better place for women and diverse audiences. Solar empowers brands to tell more inclusive and representative storytelling that ultimately brings more underrepresented voices into modern media offerings. The agency also serves as the internal marketing engine that fuels Hello Sunshine’s content, commerce, and community model.
“Hello Sunshine has proven time and time again that we know women – what inspires them, connects them, and drives them to action. We're thrilled to formally launch Solar, an innovative in-house social agency that leverages Hello Sunshine's creative expertise to help brands authentically communicate with women,” said Maureen Polo, Head of Direct to Consumer at Hello Sunshine. “Our incredible team of marketers, creatives, strategists, and producers will work seamlessly with partners to drive story-led marketing that moves the needle.”
“Solar presents a more formal offering that operationalizes Hello Sunshine’s trust, influence, and deep expertise with female consumers,” added Sarah Harden, CEO of Hello Sunshine. “Leveraging our heritage in premium storytelling that centers women, we’re partnering with brands with full-service capabilities across the modern media landscape.”
More than a traditional agency, Solar teams up with mission-aligned brands to go beyond their standard strategy and creative needs. The agency’s collaborative model provides deep insight, intelligence, and credibility among women consumers. Solar’s work with brand partners includes extensive brand partnerships through Hello Sunshine IP and DTC brands, social marketing services, influencer marketing, licensing, product development, co-marketing, and women-centered consumer insights. The agency has already been working with a range of renowned brands, including Oui by Yoplait, P&G, Diageo, Pure Leaf, Stacy’s Pita Chips, Buick, Biossance, Lavazza, Anheuser Busch, Epson, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Fidelity.
“We approached Hello Sunshine because of their like-minded audience with Oui yogurt,” said Susan Pitt, Brand Experience Director for Cereal and Yogurt brands at General Mills. “We really wanted to reach women who are passionate about saying yes to making time for themselves. Hello Sunshine built out a strategic multi-channel program that has helped catapult our shared creative purpose messaging and ultimately help drive double digit increase in sales velocity.”
Along with Maureen Polo, Hello Sunshine’s Head of Direct to Consumer, Solar is led by SVP Jennifer Wiener. Wiener previously worked at Fullscreen, where she led sales and integrated marketing teams and re-positioned Fullscreen with Fortune 500 clients as trusted, insight-led marketing solutions and social services experts. Prior to Fullscreen, she worked at Dentsu Aegis, where she and her team led award winning branded content efforts for Microsoft and focused on business development for the agency. Before joining Hello Sunshine, Wiener ran the Entertainment Marketing Solutions team at WarnerMedia, leading all brand marketing, brand positioning, creative, brand partnerships and go to market storytelling for HBO Max, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, DC Comics and Theatrical.
Along with a cross-disciplinary agency team, Polo and Wiener are joined by VP, Creative, Teneille Craig, an award-winning creative with over 15 years of experience in publishing, advertising, digital media, and fashion. Prior to joining Hello Sunshine, Teneille has made an impact in senior creative roles at ESSENCE Magazine, Dentsu McGarrybowen for American Express, and TikTok.
Hello Sunshine will continue to focus on long-form branded entertainment with Zoe Fairborn, Head of Brand Business Development and Branded Entertainment, continuing to lead those efforts.
About Hello Sunshine
Founded by Reese Witherspoon, Hello Sunshine puts women at the center of every story it creates, celebrates and discovers. Hello Sunshine tells stories across all platforms – from scripted and unscripted television, feature films, podcasts, audio storytelling, and digital series – all shining a light on where women are now and helping them chart a new path forward. Hello Sunshine is also home to Reese’s Book Club. Fast growing in reach and influence, this community is propelled by meaningful connections with stories, authors and fellow members.
Hello Sunshine is part of Candle Media, an independent, creator-friendly home for cutting-edge, high-quality, category-defining brands and franchises. By bringing together elite talent operating at the intersection of content, community, and commerce, it helps to position leading entertainment businesses for accelerated, sustainable growth in the current market and beyond. Candle is run by its Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs, leading entertainment executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, and backed by investment capital from funds managed by Blackstone’s flagship private equity business.
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PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING
Hivestack | March 16, 2023
Hivestack, a company that makes programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising technology, has teamed up with Focus Media Hong Kong to give local and international buyers access to Focus Media's network of digital panels and billboards.
The network has Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok, and Kwun Tong, as well as Hong Kong's first digital screen that can be turned on programmatically with 3D creative executions. It is the first and only one in Hong Kong. With the help of Hivestack's programmatic DOOH advertising technology, advertisers will be able to reach a wider audience and send more targeted and personalized ads. It also marks a significant step towards the digital transformation of Hong Kong's out-of-home advertising industry.
Troy Yang, MD of North Asia at Hivestack, said, "Focus Media Hong Kong helps to expand the variety of DOOH screens for media buyers." He also said, “The whole team at Hivestack is thrilled to partner with Focus Media in Hong Kong, which will now exclusively use the Hivestack SSP to drive incremental revenue from our global network of advertisers." He further said, "This partnership provides countless opportunities for brands, agencies, and omni-channel DSPs both locally and globally to activate programmatic DOOH campaigns across some of the most strategic locations in Hong Kong."
(Source - Exchangewire)
The goal of the partnership is to bring in more money from global advertisers and take the process of buying programmatic DOOH ads to the next level. In Hong Kong, digital advertising that is based on data was expected to bring in 62% of all advertising revenue by 2022.
About Hivestack
Hivestack is a full stack adtech company that specializes in programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) advertising. Their platform offers a complete suite of tools and services to enable buyers and sellers of DOOH advertising to activate campaigns and attract programmatic revenue. On the buy side, marketers can use the Demand Side Platform (DSP) to create measurable campaigns that activate DOOH screens in real-time based on consumer behavior and audience movement patterns. On the sell side, DOOH media owners can use Hivestack's Supply Side Platform (SSP) & Ad Exchange. Additionally, the Ad Server can power impression-based, directly sold campaigns. Attribution enables buyers and sellers to measure business outcomes at all stages of the consumer sales funnel, providing a more complete picture of the effectiveness of their campaigns.
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