SF Interactive Inc., one of the few major independent interactive agencies, opened SF Insight, a new business division.
The expansion signals SFI's new focus on relationship marketing, targeting clients in categories like financial services, automotive, travel and technology. The division combines SFI's direct e-mail group and analytics team.
“What's unique about this is that it absolutely includes the principles of customer relationship marketing but also includes qualitative analytics as well,” said Bruce Carlisle, president/CEO of SFI.
SF Insight will provide qualitative planning and message testing, plus quantitative tools in data analysis, mining and modeling. The goal is to help marketers find value in marketing databases and create programs that generate higher returns on investment.
“This is fundamentally a service business rather than a technology business we're starting,” Carlisle said. “We're platform-agnostic. Our clients use a variety of CRM tools whether it's E.piphany, Siebel or any number of databases and analytic tools. We don't care.”
Bill Firing leads SF Insight as senior vice president. He previously was San Francisco-based vice president of consulting services for Analytici, the New York customer relationship marketing and analytics division of ad agency Foote Cone & Belding.
Founded six years ago, SFI has clients like VeriSign, WindRiver and Cisco. It also will solicit business just for SF Insight.
