French luxury fashion brand DIOR Beauty has launched an industry-first campaign with brand ambassador and global icon @Jisoo, giving @diorbeauty’s 9.6million Instagram followers access to four days of exclusive content and conversation with the muse of the new Dior Addict shine lipstick campaign over WhatsApp. Dior has collaborated with global communications platform Infobip to release this innovative omnichannel experience, the first time a brand has used WhatsApp to empower conversations with a brand ambassador. Customers are invited to become part of the experience via @diorbeauty’s Instagram story, where Jisoo has offered followers the chance to join her ‘exclusive WhatsApp group’. From there, customers are taken to a dedicated landing page where they can sign up to engage with Jisoo’s chatbot over WhatsApp ahead of the new Dior Addict shine lipstick launch. Members choose the type of content they want to receive, from themed videos to exclusive behind the scenes footage of Jisoo’s life as a Dior ambassador. The campaign is being managed through Infobip’s WhatsApp Business solution, enabling Dior to build a series of automated conversations and journeys as Jisoo with the help of chatbots. The rich channel means communication can include images, videos, files, web links, audio files and buttons to bring messages to life and keep customers engaged.
impact.com, the partnership management platform driving partnerships for more than 2,200 brands, announced its continued momentum in the first quarter of 2022 driven by the company’s client expansion, acquisition of Pressboard, the premier analytics and reporting platform for branded content, and new product innovations, including Link Scanner and Search Compliance. During the quarter, impact.com welcomed more than 200 new clients. Further cementing its leadership in the industry, impact.com published The Partnership Economy, a book authored by impact.com’s CEO, David A. Yovanno, which is an insightful, actionable guide to how modern businesses can use partnerships to increase customer acquisition, foster revenue growth, and establish brand awareness and loyalty.
Thirty inspirational inclusivity game-changers have been named on the 2022 IPA iList, in partnership with Accenture Song and Campaign, for their remarkable commitment to making the industry a more inclusive and diverse place to work. In addition, the judges awarded eight commendations. The 2022 iListers join the 30 named in 2020’s inaugural iList as the guiding lights in our industry helping to shift the culture within the industry and demanding better representation in creative work through a range of initiatives across all areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Ingenio, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, and the owner of North America’s largest online marketplace and media platform focused on spiritual and emotional wellness, has acquired its largest European peer, adviqo Group. The transaction creates the global leader in this fast-growing segment of the media and technology sector, combining Ingenio’s 12 brands, which include Keen.com, Purple Garden, Horoscope.com and Astrology.com, with adviqo’s 19 brands, which feature Questico, Horoskop.de, and Kang.
Impartner, the channel management platform and Partner Relationship Management (PRM) provider, and The Sherpa Group, the Channel Growth specialists, have announced a new strategic partnership. The new alliance will accelerate the opportunity for Channel Vendors by combining best-in-class technology with expert-led services. The global partnership will see The Sherpa Group delivering a bespoke service offering, ranging from pre-sales consultations, to onboarding, to ongoing strategic and growth-orientated support for potential and existing Impartner customers, and will give Impartner users the flexibility to tap into their existing Channel Transformation Framework that is already used to grow some of the largest technology Vendors, such as Microsoft, Zoom and Cisco.
‘JourneyHero’ – the new travel app disrupting the Travel space by empowering consumers and offering them money back is now available for free download in the Apple store. The app marks a departure from legacy technology that has characterised the travel industry for decades. Co-founded by visionary Rosa Shah (Globerella Ltd) and industry veteran Shane Batt (ex. Sabre and American Airlines), JourneyHero is a start-up travel app that reverses the paradigm so that travellers are on an equal footing with travel suppliers (airline, hotel, car rental).
JourneyHero utilises the core machine learning artificial intelligence capabilities of today’s best smartphones, as well as Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Lambda services for its large-scale parallel processing.
Human-centred digital design agency, Nexer Digital has partnered with Diverse & Equal to ensure it is hiring people with ranging experiences that represent the audience using the products and services it develops. The partnership will see dedicated bootcamps that support candidates through the methods, attitudes and processes involved in working in the public sector, which constitutes 50% of Nexer Digital’s work. In addition, Nexer Digital’s practice leads and Diverse & Equal will work together to establish a support framework for candidates’ initial onboarding. Accessibility and inclusion within the development of tech and digital are crucial to enabling tech products and services to reach their full potential and allowing the greatest number of people to benefit from them. Diverse teams allow a broader set of perspectives and experiences to be used at the creation stage, leading to improved products, however traditional recruitment approaches often do not present a rich range of candidates.
Amplitude, Inc., the pioneer in digital optimisation, has announced continued investment in Europe with the opening of new and expanded offices in London and Paris and the appointment of Alexa Lacroix as Vice President, EMEA South. As the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy laws change how businesses interact with customer data, organisations are increasingly looking for solutions that provide deep customer insights without compromising their compliance duties. Amplitude’s growing team and footprint will serve to meet its customers in more than 40 markets in EMEA and the continued rise in demand for first-party product analytics in the region.
OKX, the cryptocurrency platform, has announced a major multi-year partnership with McLaren Racing, becoming the Official Primary Partner of the McLaren Formula 1 Team and McLaren Shadow esports Team from 2022. The partnership unites two global brands who value innovation and accessibility. As Official Primary Partner, OKX will be the largest partner to McLaren Racing, the home to one of the most successful Formula One teams and greatest drivers of all time. As the world’s second largest exchange by trading volume, OKX is on a mission to supercharge the experience for McLaren’s global audience, elevating the team and its fans by bringing crypto onto the track. OKX’s partnership with McLaren will propel the crypto brand to household name status fans and traders will come to love. Year over year, the relationship will find new and exciting opportunities to bring fans closer to the culture of speed, performance and high ambitions. On the 2022 Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, May 8th, OKX branding will be carried on the rear wing, front wing, mirrors, cockpit side, nose, and inner halo of the McLaren MCL36 F1 cars, on the race suits and helmets of McLaren F1 drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, and on the McLaren F1 Team kit and McLaren Shadow Team kit.
Ankorstore, the online ecosystem connecting independent retailers and brands across Europe, continues to pioneer the evolution of retail. Its most recent endeavour entails to launch its Reward Programme and to elevate its brand vision which is now brought to life through the two-word manifesto: Rewild Retail. Since its creation in 2019, Ankorstore has evolved from a B2B online marketplace to a vibrant ecosystem that empowers brands and retailers to grow freely, embrace their creativity, and stay competitive. Ankorstore’s brand makeover is the result of a need for stronger brand expression as we enter the next stage of our journey.
The Collective, the disruptive and innovative yoghurt brand best known for creating deliciously tasty, exciting eating experiences for both adults and kids, is excited to announce the launch of its first Masterbrand Campaign, introducing UK consumers to the Yog Squad. The Collective’s new campaign emphasises how they can provide something delicious to eat for everyone, and entices all those in search for healthy, luxurious food items that don’t compromise on taste, to join the Yog Squad. The nationwide campaign, which includes Out-Of-Home (OOH), digital media and shopper marketing, will be supported by an integrated, Above-the-Line approach, running across 1222 UK sites, reaching millions and via digital channels. This initial launch will be followed by two subsequent bursts of activity to increase brand awareness, with refreshed packaging set to be implemented later this year to ensure visual alignment across all of The Collective’s products while also encouraging families and friends to set up their own Yog Squads.
Infinity, the call intelligence provider, has announced the launch of ‘Agent ID’ and ‘Outbound call tracking’ – representing a significant improvement to its contact centre offering. The business has also launched an improved Insights and Intelligence consultancy. The new features and services will allow customers to curate individually tailored training programmes and consequently reduce acquisition costs, increase average order value, and optimise lead conversion in their call centres.
NextPlay Technologies, Inc. has completed the previously announced acquisitions of artificial intelligence (AI) game development and crypto asset management technologies that further enhances its digital business ecosystem for digital advertisers, consumers, and video gamers. The company acquired the assets, patents and video game development technology of Fighter Base Publishing, Inc. (FBP) along with its Make It Games™ (‘MIG’) brand. FBP’s proprietary AI animation tools enable game or film characters to animate themselves, and be more lifelike in appearance and behavior, saving producers time and money over traditional animation. Fighter Base Publishing was founded by Mark Vange, who joined NextPlay as its chief technology officer in July of last year. Vange has authored more than 41 U.S. patents of breakthrough technologies, which have defined the video gaming industry. He earlier served as the chief technology officer of Electronic Arts Interactive (EAI) following EAI’s acquisition of a company he founded.
Validity, the provider of data quality and email marketing success solutions, announced a data partnership with Red Sift, an integrated cloud email and brand protection platform. The data exchange will facilitate compliance with Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) to ensure Validity and Red Sift customers are implementing ethical and secure email marketing campaigns. Poor data quality prevents email marketers from executing their campaigns to the best of their ability, and it leaves the door open for bad actors to damage companies’ domain reputations. The DMARC standard is the best solution available for brands to combat phishing attacks that target customers by spoofing their owned domains, as it allows organisations to prevent their domains from being impersonated. This ultimately strengthens the trustworthiness of marketers’ email campaigns for the recipients and increases email engagement for today’s digital marketers.
The display manufacturer Ynvisible has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with RISE for sole rights to the research institute’s energy-efficient electrochromic display technology. Twenty years of research lay behind RISE electrochromic display patents that are now being licensed. For the research institute RISE, it is important to ensure that innovations can be commercialized and thus strengthen the business community in Sweden. RISE’s electrochromic display technology underpins Ynvisible’s energy-efficient e-paper display. Ynvisible has had a non-exclusive licensing agreement to RISE electrochromic display technology since 2020, which has led the international display manufacturer to invest in commercial production of printed electronics in Sweden. The research and development collaboration between the companies is now being expanded and intensified, as Ynvisible licenses a part of RISE extensive IP portfolio in electrochromic.
Coopah, the digital running coach and training app is launching the RunStart Academy, a run coaching program for groups of individuals who would benefit from additional support and encouragement. From refugees to those struggling with their mental health, the RunStart Academy exists to inspire people to start, and keep, running. The inaugural eight-week RunStart Academy launches tomorrow, Saturday 7th May at Brueton ParkRun, Solihull at which Coopah will be working with Refugee Support Europe to host a group of Iranian, Yemeni, Iraqi, Kurdish, Sudanese, Nigerian and Ukrainian refugees at the event. ReSole Brixton and Coopah members have donated a range of running trainers and kit alongside Coopah donating a special one off ‘Refugee Run Club’ shirt for each runner. During the RunStart Academy, groups of individuals from various social backgrounds are invited to join an eight-week coaching programme which includes, a hosted 5k ParkRun on day one and eight weeks of personalised coaching, through our Coopah training app. It culminates in a second ParkRun at the end of the eight weeks to track and celebrate group successes. Each week, academy members meet virtually to share their progress, discuss openly how they are feeling and to get tips from a range of running experts, including Nick Butter, the first person to run a marathon in every country in the world. At the end of the programme, Coopah provides every graduate with a lifetime app/coaching subscription, so they can continue to benefit from the power of running.
BigCommerce, an Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, has announced it has been recognised as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ 2022 by Great Place to Work®, the global authority on workplace culture. Out of a total of 290 companies who were named Great Places to Work, BigCommerce was one of 80 companies to be recognized in the Small Organisations category for the level of trust that employees experience in their leaders, the level of pride they have in their jobs and the extent to which they experience camaraderie with their colleagues.
