Accenture has agreed to acquire Mindcurv, a cloud-native digital experience and data analytics company specializing in composable software, digital engineering and commerce services for more than 200 clients worldwide. With this acquisition, Accenture Song—the world’s largest tech-powered creative group further expands its commerce services for clients globally. The terms of the acquisition from private equity investment firms Genui and Primepulse were not disclosed.

Founded in 2011, Mindcurv is one of the leading German companies providing end-to-end digital experience services solving complex challenges in the core business of leading European clients across several industries, including manufacturing, retail, consumer good, life sciences and chemicals. As a certified member of the MACH Alliance, Mindcurv helps businesses design and implement innovative scalable digital experience platforms, with operations in several countries enabling it to deliver tech-enabled innovation with an integrative approach.

The ecommerce market is expected to exceed $8 trillion worldwide by 2027. Currently, 94% of consumers¹ make purchases through digital commerce channels. However, only 20% of companies are realizing both revenue growth and profitability. By combining Accenture Song and Mindcurv's expertise in composability skills, data, and AI capabilities, clients can accelerate their commerce operations and bridge the profitability gap. These capabilities enable personalization at scale, foster customer loyalty, and drive sales.

"With the acquisition of Mindcurv, Accenture Song continues to fortify its global offerings, blending creative thinking, technology and industry expertise,” said Max Morielli, president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, for Accenture Song. “This strategic move will enhance our ability to provide innovative, tailor-made cloud solutions, empowering clients with an unparalleled end-to-end digital experience in commerce transformation. Together, with Accenture’s broader suite of services, our investment in AI and our ecosystem partners, we are increasing our ability to meet client’s customers’ needs."

Roland Mayr, market unit lead of Accenture Song in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, added: "The integration of Mindcurv into Accenture Song will signify an important step forward in our commitment to delivering comprehensive digital solutions. Mindcurv's proficiency in scalable digital platforms and cloud innovation complements Accenture Song's vision for pushing the boundaries of commerce transformation. Together, we're poised to redefine the digital landscape for businesses worldwide."

Amjad Liaquat and Nazareno Avila, the co-founders of Mindcurv, explained: "Joining Accenture Song marks a pivotal moment for Mindcurv. Our strengths combined offer formidable end-to-end digital commerce services, combining innovation, creativity and global reach delivered through an integrative and balanced approach with the support of teams across the countries we operate in. We’re excited to lead the evolving digital landscape together."

Headquartered in Essen, Germany, Mindcurv and its team of over 700 experts based across 13 different locations including the Netherlands, Spain and India, are set to join Accenture Song's commerce practice. Mindcurv is the latest in a series of acquisitions that Accenture Song has made to enhance customer offerings for clients, including Work & Co, Rabbit’s Tale, ConcentricLife, Fiftyfive5 and The Stable.

Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of applicable regulatory approval.

• Three-quarters (76%) of surveyed executives agree that sustainability is central to their business, but nearly half (47%) say they struggle to fund sustainability investments

• Organizations that embed sustainability throughout the business are more likely to see financial benefits, yet only 31% of respondents report they incorporate sustainability data and insights into operational improvements to a great extent

A new global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value found that while a majority of organizations recognize sustainability as important to their business strategy, many C-suite leaders are struggling to fund their sustainability investments. Data collected from 5,000 global C-suite executives highlighted that organizations that embed sustainability within their operations see better sustainability and financial outcomes, while spending less money than their peers.

The study*, "Beyond checking the box – how to create business value with embedded sustainability," revealed that almost one-third (30%) of executives surveyed say they have made significant progress in executing their sustainability strategy – up from 10% a year ago – but turning ambitions into impact remains a challenge. Almost half (47%) of executives surveyed struggle to fund sustainability investments; six in 10 say they have to make trade-offs between financial and sustainability outcomes.

Organizations that embed sustainability more deeply into their operations show a marked difference in outcomes from enterprises with a singular focus on areas, such as regulatory reporting or sustainability as a corporate project. Organizations that embed sustainability are 75% more likely to attribute greater improvement in revenue from their sustainability efforts, and are 52% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability.

The findings indicate that many organizations are focused on managing complex, varied reporting requirements rather than real business value and results. The study found that spending on sustainability reporting exceeds spending on sustainability innovation by 43%. Only 31% of executives surveyed report they are incorporating sustainability data and insights into operational improvements to a great extent, while 14% say they do so with innovation initiatives.

"An organization's approach to sustainability may be holding it back. There is no quick fix. Sustainability requires intentionality and a shared corporate vision," said Oday Abbosh, Global Managing Partner, Sustainability Services, IBM Consulting. "Sustainability needs to be part of the day-to-day operations, not viewed only as a compliance task or reporting exercise. By embedding sustainability across their business, organizations are more likely to drive internal innovation, attract and retain skilled talent, and be better positioned to deliver both positive environmental impact and financial outcomes."

Other key study findings include:

Organizations continue to pursue sustainability, but funding, skilling and operationalizing actions remain a challenge

• Seventy-five percent (75%) of executives surveyed agree that sustainability drives better business results, and 76% agree that sustainability is central to their business strategy.
• At the same time, 69% of executives surveyed say that sustainability needs to be a higher priority in their organization.
• While 82% of executive respondents agree that high-quality data and transparency are necessary to achieve sustainability outcomes, only about 4 in 10 organizations can automatically source sustainability data from any of the following core systems: ERP (finance, HR, supply chain), Enterprise Asset Management, CRM, Energy Management Systems, Facilities Management systems.
• Thirty-nine percent (39%) of executives surveyed also cite a lack of requisite skills as the top barrier to sustainability progress.

Despite most organizations not incorporating sustainability into innovation initiatives, leaders expect generative AI to help supercharge sustainability efforts

• Sixty-four percent (64%) of executives surveyed agree that generative AI will be important for their sustainability efforts.
• Seventy-three percent (73%) say they plan to increase their investment in generative AI for sustainability.

Organizations that embed sustainability more deeply into their operations see benefits that can convert sustainability efforts into business value

Further analysis of the survey data found that:

• Organizations that embed sustainability spend slightly less on dedicated sustainability efforts as a share of their revenue compared to organizations that don't embed.
• Fifty-three percent (53%) of these organizations say that business benefits are essential for justifying sustainability investments; only 17% say meeting sustainability objectives is in itself sufficient to justify investment.
• These organizations are also 191% more likely to have aligned their data and sustainability strategies to a great extent, and 80% more likely to be using AI for sustainability to a great extent.

Beyond checking the box - how to create business value with embedded sustainability underscores the urgent need for organizations to integrate sustainability objectives within business strategy and apply technologies like AI to realize greater progress and profitability. The study also serves as a resource for business leaders, outlining actionable strategies to help enterprises with challenges around data, business integration and decision-making. 

A recent study conducted by social media management platform, Dash Hudson, in collaboration with global consumer data analytics leader, NielsenIQ, has unveiled promising opportunity for US brands considering tapping into the TikTok Shop sales trend. TikTok Shop, an all-in-one e-commerce solution, has emerged as a powerful platform for driving sales and brand awareness on TikTok.

TikTok Shop offers the opportunity to directly sell products within the TikTok app, creating a seamless shopping experience for users. In recent years, TikTok has gained immense popularity among consumers, with US adults reported to spend a total of 4.43 billion minutes per day on TikTok this year –– a 5x increase since 2019. Such an increase provides a unique opportunity for brands to reach a wide audience and bring them down the funnel to conversion. 

"TikTok Shop, a global powerhouse in beauty retail, has already achieved remarkable success worldwide. It ranks as the #2 personal care ecommerce retailer in China and the #4 cosmetics retailer in the UK by sales. Now, with its sights set on the US, the largest global beauty market, TikTok Shop made its mark by reaching the #12 position in beauty and personal care ecommerce retailers in the US by November 2023," said Anna Mayo, VP Beauty thought leadership, NIQ. "Demonstrating an ability to translate views into sales, TikTok Shop has ushered in a new era of social shopping, poised to transform how consumers discover and shop for beauty products. The engaging platform of TikTok serves as a powerful catalyst in driving beauty sales, providing a dynamic and visually appealing space for enthusiasts, influencers, and brands to connect. This unique environment has led to a significant boost in sales as trends and recommendations rapidly spread across the TikTok community."

While TikTok Shop was introduced in the United States in April 2023, it launched in the United Kingdom in 2021. The sales data, inclusive of the beauty industry, provides a glimpse into the potential opportunity in the US market, which traditionally sees in store beauty sales about 5x greater than the UK market. To date, the United States has seen a consistent monthly average growth of 116% in TikTok Shop beauty sales from April through November.

With an average price point of $13.01 USD, these top five sales-producing beauty brands on TikTok Shop –– Made by Mitchell, Nature Spell, PLouise, BPerfect Cosmetics and The Beauty Corp –– collectively represent one-third of all beauty category sales. In addition to holding one-third of all beauty sales on TikTok Shop, the top five brands also average 121% more shares and 82% more video views than the TikTok beauty benchmark.

"This research proves that social media has democratized the competitive landscape for brands," said Kate Kenner Archbald, CMO of Dash Hudson. "By strategically curating engaging content, brands now hold the power to not only achieve traditional social metrics such as awareness, engagement and reach on social platforms, but to also leverage the social space as a vehicle to contribute to brand growth. With the right prioritization, any brand can win."

Kenner Archibald further highlighted the research's implications for US brands, emphasizing the immense potential of TikTok Shop. With a rapidly expanding user base and its inherently engaging nature, TikTok Shop stands as a transformative force in e-commerce. Brands that embrace social selling have a unique opportunity to drive sales and gain a competitive advantage in the market.

Act-On Software has partnered with customers for 15 years, guiding them through healthy email deliverability practices. As mailbox providers like Google and Yahoo tighten requirements in 2024, Act-On is again ahead of the curve to help marketers achieve email deliverability success.

New 2024 email requirements are in effect, limiting marketers who don’t follow best practices from hitting inboxes, but Act-On's deliverability services and proprietary email servers have ensured customers comply with email rules for more than a decade. These requirements from Google, Yahoo, and other mailbox providers are designed to enhance email security, improve user experience, and ensure emails reaching inboxes are relevant and safe. To avoid being penalized by these major service providers and instead reach target audience inboxes, marketers must take several important steps.

“These are email deliverability practices that Act-On has championed since long before they were required,” said Brian Willis, Act-On Manager of Deliverability Services. “We coach marketers to optimize email strategy and ensure that content is ready to avoid spam placement and blocklists.”
The first major change of 2024 is stricter authentication requirements. These protocols combat phishing and spoofing attempts. Email senders are now required to implement the latest authentication standards to be seen as trusted recipients. These standards include:

• DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance)
• DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail)
• SPF (Sender Policy Framework)

Act-On’s marketing automation (MA) solution already implements a side-by-side email checklist for marketers to track compliance of many email standards. 

Providers are also placing a stronger emphasis on user engagement metrics to determine the relevance and quality of emails. Senders with consistently low engagement rates may find their emails filtered out of the primary inbox. To maintain a positive sender reputation, businesses should focus on delivering content that resonates with audiences and encourages user interaction.

Next, mobile optimization is critical. With most email opens happening on mobile devices, mailbox providers urge senders to optimize emails for mobile viewing. Readers are more likely to ignore poorly formatted emails or report them as spam.

To remain in good standing with providers like Google and Yahoo, email senders should ensure their unsubscribe mechanisms are clear, easily accessible, and promptly honored. Act-On has always enabled unsubscribe mechanisms to occur immediately upon request, upholding sender reputation. 

Bulk email senders,  who send 5,000 or more messages to Yahoo or Google domains per day, including marketers who use marketing automation solutions, must follow new sender guidelines to stay below a reported spam threshold of 0.3%. Act-On Software has helped customers implement these best practices for years and continues to provide the gold standard for marketing automation. 

Unlike many marketing automation and email providers, Act-On runs its own email servers. Because Act-On manages all aspects of its email environment, the Act-On deliverability team has immediate access to any email data needed to assist senders. This is one key way Act-On helps marketers manage their own high deliverability rates. 

Act-On Deliverability Services also works directly with customers to help them implement email marketing best practices, like those listed above, maintain a clean, well-managed database, and focus on high-quality content to ensure high deliverability. 

This detailed guide can further help MA users achieve that deliverability success.

Key Data-Driven Identity Insights Coupled with Powerful Campaigning Outreach Platform Help Advocacy Groups and Nonprofits Boost Engagement

AdRoll, a leading marketing and advertising platform that helps business-to-consumer brands grow their businesses, today released the Q1 2024 edition of its State of Digital Marketing Report, a comprehensive summary drawing from marketing trends and insights consolidated from more than 20,000 online businesses, offering ideas to help digital marketers further improve marketing ROI.

In Q4 2023, advertising cost per mille (CPM) experienced a 23% decrease compared to the previous year, marking the smallest year-over-year decline since Q2 2023. Notably, December witnessed an unexpected 7% uptick in CPM from November, signaling heightened advertiser confidence and campaign effectiveness toward the end of the year. The trend underscores the importance of understanding supply and demand dynamics in digital advertising, with advertisers seeking optimal engagement across channels.

The U.S. economy has shown remarkable resilience, with indicators pointing to rapid improvement. January’s U.S. consumer sentiment index reached its highest level in two and a half years, reflecting growing optimism. AdRoll’s customer survey conducted in January 2024 indicates a significant uptick in advertising spend for 2024, with 40% of marketers planning to increase their budgets and 30% planning to maintain budgets similar to 2023.

“2024 will witness a substantial surge in advertising spend, inevitably leading to increased CPM rates. However, the extent of this rise will differ significantly across various advertising channels,” said Vibhor Kapoor, president of AdRoll. “To maximize return on investment, marketers must prioritize audience targeting and engagement throughout the customer journey. By aligning spending with audience presence and behavior, marketers can build a revenue pipeline for sustainable growth.”

As advertisers navigate an increasingly complex landscape, understanding the nuances of each advertising channel is paramount. AdRoll’s report reveals that the average brand utilizes six advertising channels, with search, display, and Meta’s platforms emerging as top choices. To optimize campaign performance, marketers must leverage cross-channel attribution tools to measure effectiveness and accurately tailor strategies to the customer journey.

Merkle, dentsu's leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company, announced Merkle industry experts and thought leaders have joined nine Salesforce Partner Advisory Boards: Data Cloud, Service Cloud, B2B Commerce Consulting, B2C Commerce Consulting, Sales Cloud, Financial Services, Marketing Cloud, Health and Life Sciences, and AI+Data+CRM.

The Salesforce Partner Advisory Boards bring together valued partners to provide feedback and guidance to Salesforce. The contributions of each board will help shape the future of Salesforce programs, products, and industry solutions.

Merkle representatives include:

• Darian Macharowski, Salesforce Data Cloud Advisory Board
• Tony Toubia, Salesforce Marketing Cloud and AI+Data+CRM Advisory Board
• David Adler, Salesforce Service Cloud Advisory Board
• Armin Wurmser and Joe Anzalone, Salesforce B2B Commerce Consulting Advisory Board
• Ryan Means, Salesforce B2C Commerce Consulting Advisory Board
• Lorenzo Faccio, Salesforce Sales Cloud Advisory Board
• John Quaid, Salesforce Financial Services Advisory Board
• Javier Arquelladas, Salesforce Health & Life Sciences Board

"Merkle is honored to have so many thought leaders join the various Salesforce Partner Advisory Boards. Our presence on the advisory boards supports Salesforce's pursuit of product excellence, the further expansion of Merkle's Salesforce practice, and helps our clients achieve the maximum value from their investment," said Michel Mayor, SVP, global Salesforce practice leader at Merkle. "Working together, we will help brands generate actionable, AI-driven insights to deliver, manage, and optimize customer-first experiences."

A Salesforce partner since 2004, Merkle provides solutions that enable businesses using Salesforce to better understand consumer behavior and deliver secure, personal customer experiences in near real time. In 2023, Merkle launched its global accelerator for Salesforce Commerce Cloud and announced that its generative AI solution, Merkle GenCX, is available to use with Salesforce Einstein GPT to help brands harness the power of generative AI to drive insights, audiences, creative, and campaign recommendations. 

Merkle has more than 2,500 Salesforce certified employees with 8,500 Salesforce certifications globally.

Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, announced today that Nicolina Marzicola will now serve as Nielsen's Chief People Officer.

As Global Chief People Officer, Marzicola will lead Nielsen's Global HR function, and will oversee talent initiatives that engage employees, connect back to strategic priorities and ultimately drive company growth. This is inclusive of Talent Acquisition, Compensation, Benefits, Learning and Development, HR Operations and Reporting, as well as Nielsen's core HR business support function.

Marzicola will report to Karthik Rao, Nielsen's CEO.

"I'm delighted to join Nielsen as the Chief People Officer in this new era of transformation and growth for the company," said Marzicola. "I look forward to working with Karthik and the entire leadership team to continue cultivating Nielsen's culture and uniting our global employees around our ambitious goals."

"Nicolina will play a crucial role in our ability to operate with greater agility by transforming where and how Nielsen works," said Karthik Rao, CEO of Nielsen. "I'm confident that her years of human resources experience will instill in our organization a shared sense of purpose as we drive toward our bold vision for the future."

Marzicola brings Nielsen decades of vast knowledge and experience in helping global organizations navigate complex business transformations. Most recently, she led broad people and talent management strategies at HP Inc.