A major move by Salesforce this week, much discussed at Dreamforce ’16 in San Francisco, was the acquisition of the largest independent DMP in the United States, Krux. Addressing the audience at Marc Benioff’s Dreamforce keynote, Krux CEO Tommy Chavez said that Krux would be “the brains of the marketing cloud.”
Founded in 2010, Krux has helped clients develop audience segments based on data it aggregates from billions of devices and browsers worldwide and its own CRM records. The acquisition fills a significant gap in Salesforce’s marketing cloud offering: Competitor Oracle bought another significant DMP, Blue Kai, in 2014, while Adobe offers its own Audience Manager solution.
I sat down over breakfast at Dreamforce with Bonnie Crater, President and CEO of Full Circle Insights, to discuss the purchase. Full Circle Insights helps brands accurately track and measure the effect of campaigns on pipeline and sales and optimize messaging based on revenue impact,
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said, “and very important. It’s a big data solution with real value for Salesforce today.” Salesforce already powers B2B marketing with Pardot; Krux represents a “very significant additional data source on consumer intentions.” It will play a role in acquisition too, she said. It will help users “figure out if your targets are actually right, and look at activity patterns to identify similar customers.”
The cost of the acquisition is estimated at around $700 million.
–Salesforce covered DMN’s expenses to attend Dreamforce ’16
