Today’s announcement about Adobe’s acquisition of Analytics company Omniture for $1.8 billion was, for the most part, a surprise. This deal actually reminds me of the Akamai acquisition last year of Behavioral Targeting company Acerno for $95 million.
In both cases the more traditional software/technology companies are buying marketing data and analysis companies. It’s a venture in the direction of the customer, marketing, and the advertising business. It’s fascinating and hilarious to see software companies turn into ad agencies and online marketing firms. I can only imagine what it’s like within these corporate culture.
As more ad dollars flow to the web (inevitable) these companies are smart to position themselves to get a piece of the pie. Kudos to technology companies for venturing into the world of marketing, and even more importantly the customer.
And now for the M&A CEO snippet game!
“Adobe customers are looking to us for solutions to deliver engaging experiences and more effectively monetize their content and applications online,” said Shantanu Narayen, president and chief executive officer of Adobe. “This is a game changer for both Adobe and our customers. We will enable advertisers, media companies and e-tailers to realize the full value of their digital assets.”
READ: We are now not only a software company, but also a media agency.
“Omniture’s mission has been to enable our customers to optimize every digital interaction,” said Josh James, CEO of Omniture. “By joining forces with Adobe, we will accelerate our ability to deliver on that vision and together bring new innovation to the market that improves content engagement, advertising effectiveness and the overall user experience, which will drive more advertising dollars online.”
READ: We’ll teach this software company how to think about the ad business.
