Welcome to 2018, which so far is looking a lot like 2017: Except in my inbox where, sweeping aside a layer of holiday dust, I find…not too much at all. Not to worry, I’m sure the world of marketing tech will get its foot back on the virtual accelerator soon enough, and we’ll be bombarded with news, announcements, and innovations. But meantime, let’s see what we can share.
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And first up, GDPR. Yes, the subject which makes you want to go back to bed and pull the sheets over your head until 2019. One thing you need to know is that on May 25, less than five months from now, it becomes enforceable in EU member states, requiring no further legislation. Understand: That doesn’t mean some grace period commences in May, giving businesses with operations in Europe time to comply. That’s the end of the grace period, and the beginning of enforcement. And the bottom line is that the legislation will apply to anyone, anywhere who is dealing in data relating to EU subjects within the EU — for business or non-business purposes.
That’s a big net, and will capture many North American-based companies, especially those engaged in data-driven marketing activities which aren’t strictly confined to territories outside Europe. If that describes your business, you’ve appointed a Data Processing Officer, right? Or at least you’ve made an informed decision about whether to do so. Does this description fit your data operations?
“(P)rocessing which, by its nature, scope or purposes, requires regular and systematic monitoring of data subjects on a large scale…”
That’s just one of the circumstances in which the appointment of a DPO might be required. Read more here, from law firm Allen & Overy, and get some expert advice. Speaking of which, we have a long line of vendors lining up to explain what businesses need to do to be compliant. We’ll be sifting through what they have to say and presenting a series of perspectives in our themed GDPR week, starting January 22.
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As the holidays vanish swiftly over the horizon, here comes Salesforce with some summary data from the season:
- Christmas Day itself was the biggest day for mobile, with 68% of traffic and 50% of orders coming from mobile devices
- Boxing Day (for those who don’t observe it, that’s December 26) is growing too, with a 19% increase in revenue and a 14% increase in traffic since 2016
- It was a strong season overall with a growth rate of 18% over 2016
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Fresh today, Dentsu Aegis added HelloWorld to its Merkle network. HelloWorld is a sizeable (and veteran; founded 1999), Michigan-based engagement platform, specializing in promotions and loyalty across social and mobile channels, with clients like Coca-Cola and Microsoft. The acquisition is expected to strengthen the Loyalty Solutions part of the Merkle portfolio, which appeared — alongside HelloWorld — as a strong performer, but not a “leader,” in the Forrester Q3 2017 customer loyalty solutions Wave.
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I’ll take my burger with a side of crypto, please. Chanticleer Holdings, owners of American Burger Co., Little Big Burger and Hooters, is teaming up with intelligent marketing platform Mobivity to dish out a brand-new cryptocurrency loyalty program. Participants can rack up “Mobivity Merit” – a unique cryptocurrency that can be traded in for rewards across any of Chanticleer’s restaurants.
If you’re looking to take a bite, stay tuned – the program is expected to roll-out in mid-2018, and across all Chanticleer restaurants by the end of the year. — Amy Onorato
Finally, welcome Dexter. No, not the infamous Showtime serial killer, but another named AI assistant, joining the ranks of Einstein, Leonardo, and Albert. Dexter comes to us via Taplytics, which yesterday launched its Intelligent Experience Cloud. Coming out of the mobile app A/B testing space, Taplytics starts with experimentation, and adds customer “pathway” development based on Dexter’s analysis of data in the Taplytics customer data warehouse, and analytics to understand and share results.
And after a quick poll here, the consensus is that “Dexter” actually alludes to the boy genius of Cartoon Network’s Dexter’s Laboratory. Breathe a sigh of relief.
