Xtract and Greenplum See Significant Adoption of Unique Social Advertising Intelligence Solution in Europe and Asia

Joint Solution Enables Companies to Gain Deep Customer Insight and Better Target Their Advertising

Helsinki, Finland and San Mateo, Calif. – 25 June 2008 – Xtract, the leader in social advertising intelligence, and Greenplum, a leading provider of database software for business intelligence, today announced strong customer adoption of the Xtract Social Advertising Intelligence (SAI) solution which includes software from Xtract running on the Greenplum Data Warehouse. Top customers in Europe and Asia are deploying Xtract SAI to better target their marketing and advertising to strengthen and grow customer communities in the telecommunications, advertising and retail markets.

Xtract SAI is a powerful solution for advertisers and marketers to target and manage personalized and automated advertising campaigns. With highly accurate, three-dimensional profiling based on customers’ social, behavioral and demographic information, Xtract SAI revolutionizes customers’ marketing and multiplies the results from their advertising campaigns. Xtract SAI is powered by the Greenplum Database and is sold as a turnkey solution to Xtract and Greenplum’s shared customers. These customers are using Xtract SAI to improve business across a range of market segments including telecommunications, advertising and retail.

Fonecta Group is the market-leading directory services company in Finland, offering a variety of directory services to meet the contact information needs of customers. Fonecta’s services are used more than 1.5 million times each day. Fonecta has deployed Xtract SAI in its datacenter for extremely fast analytics across a massive dataset of contacts.

“Our SMS services have been increasing rapidly, and we were looking for a better way to understand our customer segments to target our SMS marketing,” says Rami Meling, Business Development Manager, Fonecta. “Working with Xtract, we were able to create a clear segmenting of our customers and also begin to target and personalize our SMS marketing online. We are thrilled about the results.”

Broadcasting company Plus TV has over 250,000 subscribers and customers utilizing its pay-per-view television service. Plus TV is using Xtract and Greenplum to perform demographic data analysis for its marketing and customer retention efforts.

“Analytics are extremely important to us. We needed a partner with the top people building the right solution,” said Jari Vanhanen, CTO of Plus TV. “Xtract delivers a reliable solution and Greenplum Database has worked extremely well. Together these products are helping us to improve our profitability.”

“Xtract enables companies to gain competitive advantage from their data, and the combined Xtract and Greenplum solution allows customers to achieve critical insights with greater speed and scale,” said Frank Bien, VP of Business Development at Greenplum. “The market traction we’re seeing for Xtract SAI underscores the significant value companies derive from our joint solution.”

About Xtract
Xtract is the global trusted partner and innovator in Social Advertising Intelligence. We have the technology and competence to turn large user data into cash flow. Our solutions create accurate and automated consumer profiles for mobile and online advertisers based on social interactions, behavioural and demographic data. Xtract operates across Europe and Asia, working with over 50 companies with intensive customer data ranging from global leaders such as Nokia, T-Mobile and Vodafone to innovative challengers such as BLYK and Fonecta. Headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland and London, UK.

About Greenplum
Greenplum is a data warehouse software company that has developed the world’s fastest, most scalable database software for business intelligence. Designed to handle extremely large and fast-growing data volumes, Greenplum Database enables companies to gain critical insights into their data and extend their competitive advantage in the market at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions. Greenplum Database powers the Sun Data Warehouse Appliance and is being used by some of the leading companies in the world, including Reliance Communications, Comcast, Skype, AirTran and O’Reilly Media.

Posted in Press Releases | Tagged | Leave a comment

White paper on Social Advertising Intelligence

We have a new white paper online on the topic Social Advertising Intelligence: How to reach consumers with active advertising.

Customers are increasingly moving from mass broadcast media to social media, making current advertising processes less effective than before. Until now, the tools for planning and buying online and mobile advertising have been lacking.

In the white paper, we analyze the four main challenges that advertisers face with online and mobile advertising, that is:

  1. Measuring the full impact of the ads
  2. Lack of tools
  3. Ads cannot be bought in a unified way
  4. Lack of information on online users

The white paper also presents, how Xtract Social Advertising Intelligence can be used to target campaigns effectively, solving some of the challenges with multi-channel advertising.

Did you find the white paper useful? Was there something missing? All feedback is welcome!

Posted in Analytics, Marketing, Publications | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Xtract secures EUR 3.5 Million to support fast growth

London, UK and Helsinki, Finland: Xtract, the leader in social advertising intelligence today announced it has closed new funding of EUR 3,5 Million led by Creandum, a leading early stage technology investor together with renewed commitment from existing investor ETF III, advised by Eqvitec Partners.

Xtract answers a real need in the advertising industry which is making the advertising in social media and mobile effective. By using Xtract, customers have seen the average ad income increase with as much as 82% and in mobile campaigns response rates have increased with 30%.

“Our solutions provide genuinely innovative ways to ensure delivery of the right audience to the right commercial message at the right time and to accurately report on the effectiveness of any campaign in an automated way, something that up until now was not possible,” said Kimmo Kiviluoto, CEO of Xtract. ”We are delighted to have Creandum join the company which clearly underlines the confidence in our offering and in the management team,” he added.

Staffan Helgesson, Managing General Partner at Creandum, said: “We are very impressed with Xtract’s success in the telecom sector where leading mobile operators use Xtract to increase revenues and reduce churn. We also believe that Xtract’s approach is unique from the traditional approach in mass advertising. The transition from the traditional static advertising to the more dynamic advertising is going to happen and the brand managers and advertising agencies understanding this change will be the ones surviving the transition to digital advertising. Xtract has a unique position to be one of the leaders driving this change.”

Xtract board member Juha Mikkola of Eqvitec Partners said he was pleased by Creandum’s decision to invest. “This investment opportunity had a lot of demand and clearly marks the very interesting market and expansion opportunity that Xtract represents in the fast growing social intelligence market”

About Xtract
Xtract is the global trusted partner and innovator in Social Advertising Intelligence.
We have the technology and competence to turn large user data into cash flow. Our solutions create accurate and automated consumer profiles for mobile and online advertisers based on social interactions, behavioural and demographic data.

Xtract operates across Europe and Asia, working with over 50 companies with intensive customer data ranging from global leaders such as Nokia, T-Mobile and Vodafone to innovative challengers such as BLYK and Fonecta. Headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland and London, UK. www.xtract.com

About Creandum
Creandum is a Nordic venture capital firm investing in early-stage technology companies. The firm has 120 million Euros under management and is today the fastest growing independent partnership of its kind in the Nordic region. Creandum invests in innovative companies in high growth markets led by outstanding entrepreneurs. All investment professionals at Creandum has started companies or been part of successful startups. For more information, please visit www.creandum.com.

About Eqvitec Partners Oy
Eqvitec Partners Oy is one of the largest technology focused venture capital and private equity firms in Northern Europe. The company was founded in 1997 and employs 15 investments professionals in Helsinki and Stockholm. Eqvitec Partners currently advises five funds with a total capital base of 440 million euros. The funds invest in technology companies in all phases from start-up to buyouts. At the moment the funds have investments in 40 companies and have carried out 35 exits. More information can be found at www.eqvitec.com.

Posted in Press Releases | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Xtract Wins European IT Excellence Award

IT Europa Excellence Awards Winner logo

London, UK and Helsinki, Finland – Xtract is the winner of the European IT Excellence Award for Business Intelligence. This award recognises business solutions rewarding excellence in the development and the delivery of real end-user solutions.

Continue reading

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment

Social Links 2.5 – Automated, Socially Intelligent Software to Revolutionise Operators' Marketing

London, UK and Helsinki, Finland – In 2007 the implications of digital media, marketing and communications took global centre stage, with the understanding that targeted digital marketing and advertising communications can be significantly more effective, thereby delivering better marketing ROI. Nowhere was this more evident than in mobile advertising and marketing.

Continue reading

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment

Xtract makes it to the Top Ten Finalists of GSMA Mobile Innovation Global Award

London, UK and Helsinki, Finland: The GSM Association (GSMA) has announced that Xtract is one of the top ten finalists for the 2008 Mobile Innovation Global Awards. These awards encourage breakthrough technology, applications and services in the mobile industry by bringing together innovative mobile products, industry investors and mobile operators. Xtract’s social intelligence software solution, Social Links, was chosen one of the two Most Innovative Carrier Infrastructures/Platforms out of hundreds of competing solutions.

Continue reading

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment

MobileMonday Showcases Industry Innovators at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona

Helsinki, Finland and Barcelona, Spain – MobileMonday, the global community of mobile innovators, visionaries, and developers, will present the most exciting young mobile industry innovators at the MobileMonday Peer Awards during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain on February 11, 2008. This year, the Peer Awards will showcase early stage and emerging start-up companies. The event, which will be held at Espacio Movistar, is expected to attract participants from over 30 countries. Mr. Pekka Ala-Pietilä, former president at Nokia Corporation and currently chief executive officer of Blyk Corporation, a virtual mobile operator in the UK, will be the keynote speaker.

Continue reading

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment

Xtract and Greenplum Partner to offer a Complete Solution for Social Intelligence

Solution combines Greenplum’s efficiency to collect, store and manage large amounts of data with Xtract’s expertise in social network and behavior analytics for marketing

Helsinki, Finland and San Mateo, Calif., November 8, 2007 – Greenplum and Xtract have entered a partnership program to offer an advanced and comprehensive solution for social intelligence, the analysis of detailed data from social networks and other communities to enable greater insight into user preferences, relationships, and behavior. The partnership includes cooperation in research and development as well as sales and marketing.

Continue reading

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment

Xtract attains principal partner status in the Sun Partner Advantage program

Xtract’s community marketing intelligence solution enables mobile operators, retail, media and online companies to benefit from their rich customer data and include deep customer insight in their marketing efforts.

Helsinki, Finland and London, UK, 12 November 2007 – Xtract announced today that it is a Principal Partner in the Sun(SM) Partner Advantage Program, for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). Xtract qualified for this level by meeting Sun’s stringent criteria for excellence as a supplier of community marketing intelligence solutions, and by committing to tight strategic and technical alignment with Sun.
Continue reading

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment

Xtract Works with T-Mobile in Social Network Marketing

We are currently working with T-Mobile in Germany around social network marketing. T-Mobile is trialling Xtract Social Links, a powerful solution that helps to deeply understand customers and significantly improve their offering to better match customers’ needs. Community marketing intelligence is a new and exciting approach in marketing for T-Mobile Group, enabling them to be at the forefront of this new advancement.

Posted in Press Releases | Leave a comment