Archive

Helsinki, Finland and London, England — 5 May 2009 - Xtract has announced that it recruited three new members to its management team. These new members form a critical part of Xtract’s drive towards global market leadership in social intelligence solutions and services.

Gerry Gross – Vice President, Global Sales
Gerry Gross brings 20 years of executive sales and marketing experience in ICT business sector. At Xtract, Gerry has complete revenue ownership and is responsible for building and managing the global sales and partnerships’ team. Prior to Xtract, Gerry championed the worldwide sales efforts at First Hop, prior to its acquisition by Airwide Solutions. He has also held executive management positions at Surfkitchen in London and Beenz in New York City and strategic sales positions at Sprint Corporation in the US.

Sari Aapola – Vice President, Product Management
Sari Aapola has been appointed VP of Product Management at Xtract, responsible for product strategy, product marketing and product lifecycle management. A seasoned executive in the ICT sector, Sari’s most recent roles were as VP of Marketing and Product Marketing at Basware and before that at Tecnomen. Both are public companies belonging to the group of Finnish success stories in international software product and services business. Sari’s most recent project has been authoring a book on ‘Sustainable Thought Leadership’ published by BookSurge.

Mikko-Pekka Bertling – Vice President, Services
Mikko-Pekka Bertling has been with Xtract for the past two years. In his new role he is responsible for Xtract’s Social Links On-Demand solution, professional services, training and consulting. He brings a long experience in pre-sales for Active Data Warehousing and Customer Relationship Management Solutions. Mikko-Pekka has also worked as a hardware and architecture advisor and has managed Professional services’ operations in Finland and the Baltics. Mikko-Pekka started his career at IBM where he served in product development, product management and sales roles. Later on, he held several senior positions at CMA Teradata. Prior to joining Xtract, Mikko-Pekka was ADWH and CRM solutions’ expert and pre-sales owner of loyalty factory solutions at CapGemini.

“These key appointments maintain our tradition of hiring only absolute top-level executives with unmatched professional experience and market insight,” said Timo Laaksonen, CEO. “Xtract works on social intelligence technology, solutions and services that bring immediate and tangible value to our customers. Furthermore, our solutions enable the development of completely new kinds of mobile and internet on-line services and customer engagement models that can revolutionise the way that companies serve their own customers – targeted, personalised, timely and proactively. This is a new market where one can succeed only with the right combination of experience, insight, leadership, drive and innovativeness. I believe that with the addition of Sari, Mikko-Pekka and Gerry we are ideally positioned to have what it takes to become the undisputed market leader in our focus business.”

About Xtract
Xtract refines social interaction, behaviour and demographic data to create accurate 3D user profiles. These profiles for the first time utilise data as a dynamic tool in the day-to-day marketing for effective and intelligent targeting of marketing campaigns and advertising. Xtract’s Social Links is an automated, self-learning solution capable of analysing billions of mobile transactions with easy to use and actionable tools for operators and online companies to define accurate target groups for their marketing campaigns. www.xtract.com

Social links analysis company certifies its solutions to run on massive-scale database to support customer competitive advantage

Helsinki, Finland and San Francisco, California. – 25 February 2009 – Xtract, providers of social intelligence solutions for marketing and Greenplum, a leading provider of database software for the next generation of data warehousing and analytics, today announced that Xtract’s software solutions are certified on Greenplum Database 3.2.

Xtract’s social intelligence solutions analyze social interactions, behavior and demographic data that mobile operators and online companies already have, to create accurate, real time consumer profiles. Xtract software is deployed on Greenplum Database in a variety of scenarios, including on-premise software at customer sites and in hosted offerings at Xtract and other service providers around the world.

Greenplum database 3.2 was released in late 2008 and features substantial enhancements in key areas such as programmable parallel analytics, MapReduce and in-database compression. As Greenplum’s customers and partners migrate to Greenplum Database version 3.2, they are able to garner considerable enhancements in performance and scalability.

“Greenplum is our database of record, and as Greenplum advances the state of their technology it enhances the solutions in use by our customers,” said Mikko-Pekka Bertling, VP of Services at Xtract. “Customers such as TeliaSonera, Fonecta, Vodacom and PlusTV are reaping the benefits of Xtract’s analytics software running on Greenplum Database, and we look forward to future enhancements from Greenplum.”

“Xtract’s social intelligence solutions are a perfect example of how customers gain value from their data,” said Frank Bien, VP of Business Development at Greenplum. “As data volumes explode, partnerships such as the one between Xtract and Greenplum ensure that customers can utilize all their data for competitive advantage.”

About Greenplum
Greenplum is a database software company that is reinventing how companies gain insight and competitive advantage from their data. The company’s flagship product, Greenplum Database, is built to support the next generation of data warehousing and large-scale analytics processing. Supporting SQL and MapReduce parallel processing, Greenplum Database offers industry-leading performance at a low cost for companies managing terabytes to petabytes of data. Greenplum Database is used by major global organisations including NASDAQ, NYSE Euronext, Reliance Communications, Skype and Fox Interactive Media/MySpace. Greenplum partners with Sun Microsystems to power the Sun Data Warehouse Appliance. For more information visit www.greenplum.com.

About Xtract
Xtract refines social interaction, behaviour and demographic data to create accurate 3D user profiles. These profiles for the first time utilise data as a dynamic tool in the day-to-day marketing for effective and intelligent targeting of marketing campaigns and advertising. Xtract’s Social Links is an automated, self-learning solution capable of analysing billions of mobile transactions with easy to use and actionable tools for operators to define accurate target groups for their marketing campaigns.

Last night’s Business of Mobile 2.0 session at Mobile World Congress was a big success, so I have consolidated some key takeaways from the session in the below, from Xtract.

It was MWC’s largest attendee session outside of the keynotes, suggesting the merits of this topic on mobile industry executives’ minds.

Here are some talking points attributed to Jouko Ahvenainen, founder and VP of Xtract, social intelligence solutions provider, who led a portion of the session.

“Mobile 2.0 is about doing things together and sharing: co-creating, co-developing, co-funding, and co-succeeding. It is about individuals, conversations and communities.”

“2.0 business is about having high transparency, and it’s important to not that 2.0 enterprises are not new technology enterprises.

What they do have:
- New business models
- New ways of helping people to do things together

“That being said, there are many funding and earning model challenges to Mobile 2.0. As a crowd we cannot underestimate the importance of this fact:
mobile 2.0 can be run most cost-effectively but to be scalable and have a growth model, funding must be achieved for most businesses.”

“Social media has good opportunities to monetise services, but it cannot use old models to do it. When it comes to funding, new models are needed.”

The main challenges are:

- Content is not the main reason to use mobile or social media, it’s about people
- Search advertising is weak
- Contextual advertising inventory doesn¹t work properly
- People can create content and contexts in social media
- Mobile push media is not linked to Internet type context
- It is not possible to use direct social contact or personal data
- Segmentation and categorisation is key to respecting privacy
- Brands and advertisers are interested in user profiles
- Media agencies need metrics and measurable results
- “If 2.0 businesses are to survive on an advertising appetite, audience
- exchange must be interactive - a two-way street. Refined customer profiles are a high priority; user privacy is key; and optimising revenue for advertisers to give them measurable benefit are paramount to the model.”

Business Network Television comments that leveraging carrier data to calculate social revenue is a very interesting concept around your personal network usage and what your worth is to your peers and to the carrier. Follow the link to watch the interview with Xtract’s CEO Timo Laaksonen: http://www.bnettv.com

Helsinki, Finland – November 10, 2008 – How does your Social Network look like? This was the theme of Xtract’s Art School Competition where five international design schools from London, Helsinki, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco were invited to participate. Today, Xtract announced the winners and the finalists of the competition after a jury’s meeting was held on 28th of October 2008 at Helsinki University of Art and Design, UIAH. To see the works of art visit: http://www.xtract.com/yoursocialnetwork/gallery.html

Saku Heinänen, MA, Lecturer, Graphic Design, UIAH says: “The winners are good examples of student work. They have strong and clear messages, which are presented in an attractive manner. They work well as large posters, but are also applicable for other products, for example online presentations. The outcome of the competition was very positive.”
Xtract’s goal with the competition was to find new ways of viewing and displaying the real social networks of people who communicate, not just buddies on social networking websites. As human beings we are very social and networking species and so, social networks have existed since the beginning of the civilization. By utilizing the deep understanding of social interactions between people, Xtract derives valuable information from mobile operatrors’ large user data flows. Xtract’s products help mobile operators to deeply understand their customers’ social networks and accurately target their marketing and advertising initiatives. More on Xtracts’ products at: http://www.xtract.com/products

The winners are as follows:
First prize: Dancers by Katri Tikkanen, University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland
This work was an excellent example of the representation of a personal, real network. People are connected by a common interest and graphically by the shoe laces. The hidden typography adds an extra dimension. A Great execution of the brief overall.

Shared 2nd prize: Network Mike Integrity by Michał Sęk, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie, Warsaw, Poland
This was a pure and simple, strong image of a network. It interestingly combined very different individuals. Lively drawing, works surely in big size, too.

Shared 2nd prize: 1r0nmaid3n by Stefania Passera, University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland
The overall image is pleasing and beautiful with excellent graphic execution A clear medallist.

Honorary diploma: Rock, social colors of my life by Jacek Walesiak, Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie, Warsaw, Poland
This work was more controversial and cryptic than the medallists. Intriguing and personal.

Finalists in a random order:
• Network_Mike_Mind_Identity by Michał Sękh
• Hex004 by Jan Estarda-Osmycki
• ME8449 by Eva Neeseman
• Stay at the Surface by Jue Feng
• Toqueville by Veronika Schmidt
• Bookclub by Kirsti Maula
• Colorslide by Liisa and Lotta Nieminen
• Codename City 2 by XXXX?
• Reading together by Wensi Zhai
• 23PR by Paulina Rek

Awards
First prize: 1800 €
Shared second prizes: 500 € each

Participating schools are:
London School of Communications, London, UK
University of Art and Design Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Akademia Sztuk Pieknych w Warsawie, Warsaw, Poland
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA
California College of the Arts, San Francisco, USA
Tama Art University, Tokyo, Japan

Jury
Saku Heinänen, MA, Lecturer, Graphic Design, UIAH
Ilona Ilottu, MA, Graphic designer, illustrator
Alan Moore, Member of the board, Xtract
Christoffer Langenskiöld, User experience designer, Xtract

About Xtract
Xtract delivers software products for social marketing and advertising intelligence. The company refines social interaction, behaviour and demographic data to create accurate 3D user profiles. These profiles for the first time utilise data as a dynamic tool in the day to day marketing for effective and intelligent targeting of advertising, viral campaigns and predictive churn management. Xtract’s Social Links product is automated, self-learning and capable of analysing billions of mobile transactions with easy to use and actionable tools for operators to define and manage their marketing campaigns. Xtract works with over 50 companies with intensive customer data. www.xtract.com

“We are similar to oil refining business. There is crude oil but crude oil cannot be used as such. You need to refine it and then you can get useful products which you can use. And that’s what Xtract does. We take raw data from mobile or internet and we refine it so that marketers and advertisers can use it,” says Jouko Ahvenainen, founder of Xtract while speaking in front of a large audience at Marketing Communications Week in Helsinki.

The user data is becoming more and more important as media is becoming more interactive and as advertising is shifting from traditional media to online and mobile. One of the most valuable aspects of using user data for marketing is that we are able to visualise, group and measure customers’ social networks. This has created an opportunity for marketers to utilise word of mouth marketing which is the most powerful selling tool (Nielsen 2007). Mobile operators have the largest social network in the world today. Xtract can refine that rich customer data to create 3D user profiles based on social network, behaviour and demographic information. These profiles for the first time utilise data as a dynamic tool in day to day marketing for effective and intelligent targeting of advertising, viral campaigns and predictive churn management. History has shown that companies who market more and more efficiently are the ones that survive economic downturn. If that’s the case then, now is a good time to turn to a social marketing intelligence solution.

The newest software module brings more customer insight for effective mobile marketing campaigns

Helsinki, Finland and San Francisco, USA – September 10, 2008 – Marketers in the telecom industry are faced with the challenge of ever-changing market conditions that lead to shortage of customer insight, especially in the pre-paid markets. Today at the CTIA wireless show in San Francisco, Xtract announced expanded U.S. availability for its Social Links software, as well as a new module to help mobile operators worldwide better understand their customers in order to deliver more engaging marketing and advertising.

Now playing across the USA
Xtract’s Social Links is the world’s first commercially available software for analyzing social network interactions within large scale mobile communication networks. Social Links ability to deliver a far higher return on investments for its clients has been proven in a series of trials and full-scale projects with mobile operators around the globe. Starting today, Social Links is available to additional mobile operators in the U.S.

Xtract Social Links turns raw customer data into a vital marketing tool for mobile operators. By analyzing the social networks within large scale mobile communication networks it identifies the underlying social network structures within the subscriber base and the most influential people in the network, which Xtract calls Alpha Users. The result is a completely new layer of customer insight and a tangible tool for increasing the efficiency of targeted marketing and advertising.

The add-on modules combine social network with demographic and behavioral information, providing a Three Dimensional (3D) view of the customers for specific business applications including marketing activities by mobile operators as well as targeting for mobile advertising. These modules include: Churn Prediction, Customer Acquisition, Product Marketing, and now Customer Insight. Customers benefiting from Xtract Social Links range from top-tier operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone to innovative challengers such as Blyk and Fonecta.

New module offers more customer insights, better targeting at a lower cost
To help mobile operators create more effective and relevant marketing and advertising campaigns, Xtract has developed a new Customer Insight Module for Xtract Social Links that can predict the customers’ demographics and behavior based on a known customer sample. In addition, the Customer Insight Module brings customers’ demographic information to the marketers’ fingertips through an easy to use network visualisation tool.

In just one easy-to-install module, Social Links customers can:
• Predict customer demographics such as age and gender for the whole customer base. Knowing age and gender of a fragment of network customers enables the module to accurately predict the same information for the rest of the customer base.
• Adapt the module to their specific markets based on demographic characteristics of these given markets.

By using the Customer Insight Module, mobile operators are able to quickly and easily develop more focused targeting for the marketing and advertising campaigns, and achieve their marketing objectives at a lower cost.

Always ready for the close up
Social Links Customer Insight Module comes with a network visualizer tool which enables visual analyses and viewing of subscribers’ social network. Mobile operators can observe their whole subscriber social network in real time, highlight the Alpha Users (influencers) and select certain communities within the network. They are also able to zoom in and out in order to gain detailed insights about specific customer qualities.

Integration and Availability
Xtract Social Links Customer Insight Module integrates seamlessly into the Social Links base and is available for all customers globally.

About Xtract
Xtract is a trusted partner and innovator in social advertising intelligence enabling mobile and media companies to monetize their digital communities. Our core strengths are in social network analytics. Xtract has developed a unique set of automated products that, based on social interactions, behavior and demographic data, can create accurate and real time consumer profiles for mobile and online marketers and advertisers. Xtract operates across Europe and Asia, working with over 50 blue-chip companies with intensive customer data. Headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland. For more information, visit www.xtract.com.

Why all the hype around social networks? Facebook’s astronomical valuation and Microsoft’s investment in it; Google’s acquisition of Youtube and their OpenSocial concept; The popularity of MySpace and their plans to offer targeted advertising… Why the hype? Because it is finally recognized that word of mouth is in fact much more powerful than all brand advertising schemes put together! As a matter of fact, in most cases, word of mouth accounts for over 70% of marketing pull!

But where is the word of mouth most powerful? In the various internet communities or in real life? Will you turn to your so-called “friends” on Facebook if you need advise on buying a new car? Maybe. At least for the fun of it. But, most likely, it is the people that you know well and trust, your “real” friends, whose advice you will follow. When I look at the list of my friends on Facebook – how many of them are my “real” friends? 10% at the most!

(more…)

In the early days of Web 1.0, micropayments were going to arrive any day now. Most web pages were written out of sheer enthusiasm, and micropayments looked like a viable economic model of the web. Instead of getting the content for free, you would have paid a small amount, say one cent, per page view. That would not have hit anybody’s wallet too hard, yet the most favorite web authors would have got a substantial compensation.
(more…)