Nextplane, a leading provider of AI-enabled connectivity services is excited to announce a strategic partnership with Teammate Technology, a pioneer in advanced voice calling systems. This collaboration marks a significant step in unified communications, offering new interoperability experiences for Microsoft Teams users.

The two companies have partnered to combine their strengths to improve user experience and productivity. NextPlane is skilled in Artificial Intelligence and offers interoperable collaboration solutions that will be integrated with Teammate Technology's unique interoperability platform that enables UCaaS providers to easily integrate Microsoft Teams with their UCaaS service. By working together, they hope to revolutionize how businesses communicate, both internally and with their clients.

Key Features of the Partnership:

Unified Presence: Combining NextPlane's robust presence technology with Teammate Technology's voice solutions, users can enjoy a seamless experience between Microsoft Teams and their existing UCaaS platforms, ensuring efficient and effective communication.

Chat Federation: The partnership enables UCaaS users to share presence and status, and exchange messages (including rich text and emoji reactions) with users of Microsoft Teams and other collaboration services, as if they were on the same platform.

Farzin Shahidi, CEO of NextPlane, stated, "We are thrilled to partner with Teammate Technology. This partnership is about bringing the best of both worlds to UCaaS providers. With improved communication, businesses can expect a significant boost in productivity and collaboration, fostering a more dynamic and responsive work environment."

"Teams has emerged as the go-to digital work hub for organizations of all sizes," says Eric Hernaez of TeamMate Technology. "But despite its ubiquity, Teams users are still unable to communicate seamlessly with users of other UCaaS and collaboration platforms.  By partnering with NextPlane we intend to bridge this divide and set a new standard for Teams interoperability services."

RTVM Optimizes Targeting with Real-Time Insight into Exactly Who Was Reached and Who Was Not Across Platforms

Semcasting, a leader in cookieless targeting and digital identity solutions, today launched Real-Time Voter Measurement (RTVM), a new voter transparency feature in AudienceDesigner (ADS). With RTVM, for the first time in digital political campaigns, candidates and their agencies have complete transparency across platforms into which voters they have reached, who they have not reached, and what messages have been delivered in one holistic view.

RTVM is able to re-identify the recipient of an impression from the original audience as it happens, automatically creating a child segment of the original audience in ADS. This child segment can be profiled, versioned, deployed with new creative and even downloaded as a postal list. RTVM empowers more impactful voter communication by providing more transparency and campaign optimization across the voter funnel with message sequencing, cross-platform activations and real-time measurement.

Unlike other voter onboarding options, ADS is not limited by singular universal ID types or cookies with spotty or incomplete reach. The platform utilizes a constellation of match keys ranging from postal addresses, devices, hashed emails to over thirty-five social, display and connected TV (CTV) media platform IDs that cross-reference to registered voters. ADS averages over 90% onboarding match rates to all voter registration list sources.

With ADS, political advertisers’ target audience segments can be deployed in minutes or the same day across multiple platforms (digital display, CTV, FAST, social and more) at the same time. In order to respond to rapidly changing news cycles, time-to-market remains an important value proposition of ADS.

ADS with its RTVM feature within the platform is designed to support one-to-one communications with the voter where messaging can be leveraged throughout all stages of a campaign – fundraising, persuasion and get-out-the-vote (GOTV).

Ray Kingman, CEO and founder of Semcasting, said, “2024 is lining up to be one of the most consequential elections of our time and more efficient voter communications strategies are essential for positively impacting fundraising, persuasion and GOTV. For the first time ever with RTVM and ADS, political marketers can deliver more impactful messaging sequences at the audience level and verify proof of engagement on a one-to-one basis with each voter. Our solutions elevate voter communications as the primary metric for digital campaign planning and optimization throughout the election process.”

Semcasting has a legacy of proven expertise in political digital marketing since 2016, identity and targeting technology supported by eight patents and unwavering privacy compliance.

Taylor Swift to Draw New Gen Z and Millennial Viewers; Michelob Ultra Wins with Chiefs Fans, Modelo with 49ers Fans

Numerator, a data and tech company serving the market research space, has released findings on consumer behavior related to Super Bowl LVIII. The analysis leverages Numerator’s verified purchase data, a sentiment survey of over 1,000 consumers, and psychographics data to provide data on celebration, shopping, and viewing plans of Super Bowl LVIII, as well as behavioral nuances among NFL fans, Kansas City Chiefs fans, and San Francisco 49ers fans. Sports fandom is one of more than 2,500 demographic, psychographic, and media consumption attributes that panelists elect to share with Numerator.

Super Bowl Survey Findings Include:

• 3 in 5 consumers plan to watch Super Bowl LVIII, and most plan to do so in the comfort of their own homes. 61% of US consumers are planning to watch this year’s Super Bowl, and the most popular place to watch is their own homes (82%). 67% plan to watch at home alone or with their household, 15% plan to host gatherings at their home, 16% plan to watch at someone else’s home, and 4% plan to watch at a bar, restaurant or other public space. Gen Z and Millennials are twice as likely to watch the Super Bowl away from their own homes.
• The game might take center stage, but many consumers tune in for the advertisements. Super Bowl watchers say they are looking forward to watching the game (66%) and the commercials (60%). About half (48%) say they are looking forward to the halftime show, and 47% are looking forward to eating and drinking.
  • Older generations are focused on the game, while younger generations are more about the experience. Boomers+ are much more likely than younger generations to say they are looking forward to watching the game (75% vs. 59% of Gen Z and Millennials). Younger consumers are equally looking forward to the commercials, halftime show, and eating and drinking (all 55%).
• A Taylor Swift appearance will likely draw more Gen Z and Millennial viewers. While most consumers (79%) say an appearance by the pop star would not impact their likelihood of watching the game, 12% of consumers say they are more likely to watch if Taylor Swift attends. This number jumps to 20% for Gen Z and Millennial consumers.
• Soda is the most popular beverage for Super Bowl celebrations, with beer in second place. Half of Super Bowl watchers (50%) say they will purchase soda for the game, followed by beer (37%), spirits (22%), wine or champagne (22%), sparkling water (15%), juice (13%), hard seltzers (10%), ready-to-drink cocktails (9%) and THC- or CBD-infused beverages (3%).
  • RTD cocktails, hard seltzers, and cannabis-infused drinks are more popular with younger consumers. Gen Z and Millennial consumers are twice as likely as older generations to say they will celebrate with RTD cocktails (20%), hard seltzers (18%), and THC- or CBD-infused beverages (6%).
• Chips and classic game day favorites top the Super Bowl food shopping list. Three-quarters (75%) of Super Bowl watchers plan to buy chips, followed by dips / salsa / guacamole (67%), pizza (47%), chicken wings (42%), and nachos (22%).

Consumer Profile and Purchase Data Findings Include:

• The average NFL fan is more likely to be an older, high income male. Compared to the average consumer, those who watch or attend NFL games are 10% more likely to be Boomers+, 16% more likely to have an income of 125k+, and 14% more likely to be male.
  • 49ers fans are young, diverse, and avid about their sports fandom. San Francisco fans are 2.5x more likely to be Hispanic/Latino and nearly 5x more likely to be Asian compared to Chiefs fans. They are also 10% more likely to say that they are avid sports fans compared to Chiefs fans.
  • Chiefs fans tend to be older and enjoy in-person college sports. Kansas City fans are 30% more likely to be Boomers+, 26% more likely to have attended a college football game in the past year, and 49% more likely to have attended a college basketball game, compared to 49ers fans.
• Advertising is informative and entertaining for NFL fans. Compared to the average consumer, NFL fans are 21% more likely to say that advertising keeps them up-to-date and 20% more likely to find advertising entertaining.
• NFL fans spend more on beer and snacks than the average shopper. NFL fans make five additional trips per year for beer and snacks compared to the average consumer, spending almost $100 more annually on beer and $52 more on snacks.
  • Kansas City Chiefs fans and San Francisco 49ers fans differ on their most popular beer brands. While Chiefs fans are most likely to reach for Michelob Ultra, 49ers fans opt for Modelo as their top choice.
• Television plays a large role in the daily life of NFL fans. 51% of NFL fans say they watch TV for over three hours each day, with 15% watching more than six hours per day. NFL watchers are 83% more likely than the average consumer to tune into ESPN.
  • Three-quarters of NFL fans own a smart TV and subscribe to a variety of streaming services. 73% of NFL fans own a smart TV, making them 15% more likely to do so than the average consumer. They are also heavy streamers, with 69% subscribing to Amazon Prime Video (which broadcasted Thursday Night Football games during the 2023-2024 NFL season). Other popular streaming platforms for NFL watchers are Netflix (62%), Hulu (45%), and Paramount Plus (30%) – which will be streaming Super Bowl LVIII.
• Three-fifths of NFL watchers use social media several times a day. The top platforms for NFL fans are Facebook (82%), Instagram (54%), Snapchat (26%), and TikTok (26%).

LiveRamp^®, the leading data collaboration platform, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Habu, a data clean room software provider that makes sharing data across organizations safe, simple, scalable and smart.

“The acquisition of Habu further cements LiveRamp's leadership position in data collaboration, bringing together the scale and simplicity our customers need,” said LiveRamp Chief Strategy Officer David Eisenberg. “Through our combined offering, companies will now have one, simple platform to measure campaigns across all walled gardens, programmatic, and media channels while connecting data seamlessly across any cloud, warehouse, or clean room. I’m thrilled to officially welcome Habu to the LiveRamp team."

The combination of LiveRamp and Habu establishes the industry-leading interoperable platform for data collaboration across all clouds and walled gardens globally, strategically expands the Company’s collaboration network, and drives further adoption of the Company’s core identity and connectivity solutions.

Updated design and capabilities will enable developers and non-developers alike to build integrations even faster 

Prismatic, a leading embedded integration platform, debuted significant enhancements to its low-code integration designer, making it even more intuitive and user-friendly. This update empowers B2B SaaS companies to build, test, and deploy integrations for their customers more easily than ever before.

Integration capabilities are essential for B2B SaaS, but traditional integration methods are time- and resource-intensive. Prismatic's embedded integration platform makes building integrations fast, easy and accessible, empowering both developers and non-developers to connect their products to the other apps their customers use.

The platform has received significant traction among B2B SaaS teams of all sizes across a wide variety of industries, and Prismatic users report delivering integrations up to eight times faster than previously. Some teams use code and others use low-code to build integrations in Prismatic, and the company continually invests in both experiences.

"We've seen huge user engagement and success with our low-code designer, so we're thrilled to announce we've doubled down and made that experience even better. This update creates a smoother and more efficient journey for building integrations in our low-code environment while remaining as powerful and flexible as ever," said Marcus Edgington, VP Product at Prismatic. "Teams can bring new integrations to market even faster, and new users can hit the ground running because we've simplified the integration journey from building to testing to deployment." 

With this update, users can: 

• More quickly add and configure components as they build integrations.
• Test and troubleshoot integrations more efficiently and ultimately reduce errors.
• Easily navigate large and complex integrations with new features like panning and zooming.

This release comes on the heels of Prismatic's $22 million Series B funding announcement and reinforces the company's commitment to providing the most comprehensive and versatile integration solution for B2B SaaS teams.

"SaaS companies have widely varying needs and preferences regarding the teams and tools they use to build integrations. Whether you choose to have development teams or less technical teams build integrations, whether you use Prismatic's built-in connectors or code your own custom components, this update makes building integrations more efficient for all Prismatic users," said Edgington.

Animoto, a video editing platform that makes it easy for anyone to create professional videos for marketing, sales, internal communications and more, reported new survey results that showed the impact of video on today's businesses. The online video-maker shared its "2024's Top Business Video Trends" report that details how businesses use video, where they are seeing success, and how video will evolve in 2024.

Businesses are Making More Videos Than Ever
A massive 90% of businesses surveyed said they make videos at least once a week. Additionally, one third of those said they make a video every day. And there are no signs of slowing – 86% said they plan to make even more videos in 2024.

Beyond Marketing: Video's Rise in the Workplace
Historically, businesses primarily created marketing and promotional videos. Now, with the transition to remote and hybrid work, there's a growing trend of using video in the workplace to improve communication and employee engagement.

Last year, the top video made by businesses was a tie between training and advertising videos, followed closely by:

• Customer support videos
• Sales videos
• About us videos

The #1 Goal: Engagement Over Everything
Across the organization, business professionals said that their top priorities are engaging with customers and employees, and they have the tools to do it. A unanimous 100% of those surveyed expressed confidence that video boosts employee engagement.

"Businesses are placing their confidence in video to connect and engage not just with their customers, but with their entire teams," said Brad Jefferson, CEO and co-Founder of Animoto. "They've shown us that in 2024, video is the gold standard for business communications."

To illustrate the research and results, Animoto published a comprehensive infographic on their site.

Mindbreeze, a leading provider of appliances and cloud services in the field of information insight, and Ariza Content Solutions have created a partnership to employ and enhance insights & search experiences and provide companies with best-in-class content management.

"Intelligent and strategic partnerships have been a core part of Mindbreeze's success over the past 20 years. Allowing our customers to work with experts like Ariza Content Solutions provides them opportunities to use insight engines effectively and receive high-level insights from their knowledge base," explains Daniel Fallmann, founder and CEO of Mindbreeze. "Ariza's proven success and specialization in all aspects of content management makes a perfect and exciting partnership for Mindbreeze."

While traditional content workflows encompassed content creation, through management of editorial and production processes, to final publication and delivery to various distribution channels, today content creators are learning the value of connected, searchable data to allow for deeper connections in their content. To accomplish this goal, Ariza employs solutions incorporating AI-driven insight engines like Mindbreeze InSpire. Insight engines enhance the search experience giving customers, both external and internal, the very best access to knowledge and insight into their content.

“At Ariza, our clients count on us to provide end-to-end content solutions leveraging Ariza's deep knowledge of the publishing process and the technology that supports it. Through careful vetting of technology tools and platforms, Ariza is able to bring the right partners together with their respective tooling to create a complete vision," says Brian Trombley, Ariza Managing Partner - Commercial.

Mindbreeze InSpire, an insight engine, uses traditional search methods and sophisticated data analysis approaches to interpret business information and answer critical business questions. Equipped with machine learning and AI capabilities, the Mindbreeze InSpire solution is the foundation for successful enterprise knowledge management.

Currently, over 2,000 of the world's largest companies across a variety of industries are using Mindbreeze's AI-based insight engine to manage their information more efficiently and intelligently.

Siteimprove was selected as the partner of choice based on Siteimprove Inclusivity's unique product strengths and being listed as a "Strong Performer" in "The Forrester Wave™: Digital Accessibility Platforms, Q4 2023." 

Siteimprove, the leading platform empowering brands to stand out with accessible, high-performing digital content experiences, today announced that Merkle, Dentsu's leading customer experience management (CXM) company, will partner with Siteimprove to build their first-ever accessibility practice. Through this partnership, Merkle will leverage Siteimprove Inclusivity as the foundational technology for building their accessibility practice. This initiative is part of Merkle's efforts to ensure they can properly support their European customer base when the European Accessibility Act goes into effect in June 2025.

The goal of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) is to harmonize and standardize accessibility rules, so that products and services use a "design for all" approach.  Previously, each member state in the EU had different accessibility standards for products and services, which resulted in poor selection and expensive products for consumers, as well as small markets with little incentive for companies.

Under the EAA, EU member states must adhere to a unified set of accessibility rules. This standardization simplifies the process for private companies to sell compliant products and services throughout the EU and broadens the range of options available to consumers.

As the foundational technology, Siteimprove Inclusivity will be Merkle's trusted platform to manage the accessibility review and mediations process for Merkle's European customer base. By leveraging Frontier, Siteimprove's learning management system, certified by the International Association of Accessibility Professional's, Merkle will upskill its new team members to ensure a solid baseline understanding of the positive impact they will be driving for their users. The goal is for Siteimprove to help Merkle deliver an accessibility program at scale and ensure their customers have inclusive and compliant websites that support any current and future accessibility aims.  

"We're thrilled to be partnering with Merkle as they take the first step in building a truly accessible practice," said Izabela Misiorny, Chief Marketing Officer at Siteimprove. "With two decades of expertise in the field, we know that accessibility is not only about compliance - it's about enhancing user experience and opening markets to a broader and more diverse customer base.  Working with Merkle ensures that customers from both Siteimprove and Merkle can use the data and insights we provide to build inclusive and optimized content experiences that empower every person to experience, engage, and thrive in a digital world."

"At Merkle, we believe that web accessibility is not just a technical requirement: it's a social imperative," said Luis Nunes, Chief Strategy Officer at Merkle. "Our partnership with Siteimprove is a key element of continued efforts to bring services to our customers that enable them to have websites, applications and other touchpoints accessible to all. By working with industry leaders like Siteimprove, we are ensuring that the solutions we provide are designed and built with accessibility in mind from the start."