Acxiom

Last updated
Acxiom
Company type Division
Industry Database marketing
Founded Conway, Arkansas, U.S. (2018)
Headquarters Conway, Arkansas, U.S.
Key people
John Watkins, COO
ProductsAudience Cloud
Global Data Navigator
InfoBase
Personicx
Unified Data Layer
Real Identity
Number of employees
2,100+ (2018) [1]
Website Official website

Acxiom (pronounced "ax-ee-um") is a Conway, Arkansas-based database marketing company. The company collects, analyzes and sells customer and business information used for targeted advertising campaigns. [2] The company was formed in 2018 when Acxiom Corporation (since renamed LiveRamp) spun off its Acxiom Marketing Services (AMS) division to global advertising network Interpublic Group of Companies. [3]

Contents

In 2018, The Interpublic Group of Companies acquired the Acxiom Marketing Services division of Acxiom Corporation and renamed it Acxiom LLC, with the remaining portion of Acxiom Corporation becoming the publicly held company of LiveRamp. [4]

The company has offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.

History

Foundation and early days

Acxiom was founded in 1969 as Demographics, Inc. by Charles D. Ward in Conway, Arkansas. [5] The company was initially involved in producing mailing lists using phonebooks and payroll processing. In 1980, the company changed its name to Conway Communications Exchange, and in 1983 it incorporated as CCX Network, Inc. and made its first public offering. In 1988 it became Acxiom Corporation. [6]

1990s

In November 1997, Acxiom acquired Buckley Dement, a provider of healthcare fulfillment and professional medical lists. [7] In May 1998, Acxiom made the announcement that it would acquire one of its competitors, May & Speh. [8]

2000s

In early 2004, Acxiom acquired part of Claritas, a European data provider. [9] In 2005, Acxiom acquired Digital Impact for $140 million and integrated its digital and online services into its business.

In April 2007, Acxiom acquired Kefta, a real-time personalization company, and incorporated its clients and technology into its Digital Impact division. It acquired EchoTarget, a dynamic banner retargeting company, to expand its interactive marketing offerings.

On May 16, 2007, Acxiom Corporation agreed to a buyout by investment firms Silver Lake Partners and ValueAct Capital in an all-cash deal valued at $3 billion, including assuming about $756 million of debt. However, in October 2007, due to challenging credit market conditions, the companies decided to terminate the deal. Concurrently, Acxiom announced the retirement of Chairman Charles Morgan, pending the selection of his successor.

On January 17, 2008, Acxiom named John Meyer (from Alcatel-Lucent) as new CEO and president. [10] On July 11, 2008, Acxiom acquired ChoicePoint's database marketing solutions division. [11] Acxiom acquired Quinetix LLC, an analytics and predictive modeling firm in November. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

2010s

In 2010, Acxiom acquired part of GoDigital, a Brazilian direct marketing and data quality company. [12] The company launched AbiliTec Digital, a web-based tool to match digital identities to traditional name and address data, such as those collected from loyalty programs. [13]

On July 27, 2011, Acxiom named Scott E. Howe as the company's chief executive officer and president. Acxiom announced the sale of its background screening business, Acxiom Information Security Services (AISS), to Sterling Infosystems, now SterlingBackcheck.

In 2012, the New York Times reported that the company had the world's largest commercial database on consumers. [6] [5]

On May 14, 2014, Acxiom Corporation announced that it had acquired LiveRamp, a data onboarding company, for $310 million. [14]

In July 2015, the company sold its IT outsourcing division, Acxiom IT Outsourcing (Acxiom ITO) for $190 million to Charlesbank Capital Partners and M/C Partners, and Acxiom ITO was subsequently rebranded as Ensono. [15] [16] Acxiom acquired the Boston-based advanced advertising unit of Allant, a third-party data shop focused on advertising and marketing.

In August 2016, Acxiom sold its marketing automation and email solution, Acxiom Impact, for $50 million to New York City-based marketing firm Zeta Interactive, now Zeta Global. [17]

In January 2017, Acxiom Corporation launched Audience Cloud, an anonymous targeting tool that allowed demographic segmentation of customers without revealing their actual identities. [18]

In May 2018, the company announced international expansion into Brazil, Netherlands, and Italy and released Global Data Navigator (GDN), a portal for identifying available data elements by country. In July, the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) announced the acquisition of Acxiom Corporation's Marketing Solutions (AMS) business for US$2.3 billion. The deal excluded the LiveRamp business. The sale of the Marketing Solutions business to IPG was completed in October. Following the sale, Acxiom Corporation officially changed its name to LiveRamp and its ticker symbol to RAMP, while the AMS business retained the Acxiom name under IPG ownership. [2]

In September 2018, Acxiom introduced the Unified Data Layer, an open data framework designed to enable clients to integrate and manage both online and offline data sources. [19]

2020s

In March 2021, Acxiom partnered with the Forge Institute to enhance cybersecurity education and workforce development opportunities, focusing on underserved communities to help them acquire valuable workforce skills. [20] Later in July 2023, the collaboration expanded as the Forge Institute announced Acxiom's sponsorship of its Forge Fellowship program, further solidifying their longstanding partnership. [20]

In August 2021, Acxiom received the MarTech Breakthrough award, alongside Goldman Sachs, in the "Customer Experience Innovation" category for their collaboration on the personal loans marketplace using the Acxiom Real-Time Personalization Platform. [21] In September, Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine honored Acxiom for the first time as one of the 2021 Best Workplaces for Women. [22]

In October 2021, Acxiom and Adobe announced the integration of Acxiom's Real Identity with the Adobe Experience Platform. [23]

In June 2022, Acxiom launched Match Multiplier, an application that facilitates data sharing by allowing brands to increase the reach of their data with additional match keys natively in the Snowflake Data Cloud. [24] In August, Acxiom was recognized in the top 50 of Fast Company's 2022 list of 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators. [25]

In July 2023, Acxiom achieved a top score on the 2023 Disability Equality Index (DEI) and earned recognition as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion. In October 2023, Acxiom won the Salesforce Partner Innovation Award in Transportation, Travel, and Hospitality for their work with Heathrow Airport.  In the same month, IPG, Acxiom's parent company, announced the launch of an identity resolution cloud application aimed at integrating brands’ cloud ecosystems powered by Acxiom. [26]

In January 2024, Acxiom introduced Acxiom Health as the latest development in its data-driven healthcare and pharmaceutical marketing practice. The new initiative has demonstrated a 25% increase in campaign conversions, positioning Acxiom Health favorably compared to competitors in head-to-head tests. [27]

Business

Acxiom provides anonymized customer data to marketers, allowing the delivery of more relevant ads to consumers, with more effective measurement. [28]

Acxiom's client base in the United States consists primarily of companies in the financial, insurance and investment services, automotive, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, travel, entertainment, non-profit and government sectors. [29]

Products

Locations

Acxiom's headquarters is located in Conway, Arkansas, United States. [6] The company has an additional U.S. office in New York, New York. International offices are located in the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, and China. [33]

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References

  1. ↑ "IPG Confirms $2.3 Billion Deal to Acquire Data Marketing Company Acxiom". adweek.com. 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  2. 1 2 "Acxiom Names Scott Howe CEO". clickz.com. 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  3. ↑ "IPG Confirms $2.3 Billion Deal to Acquire Data Marketing Company Acxiom". mrweb.com. 2018-09-21. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  4. ↑ Coffee, Patrick (2018-07-02). "IPG Confirms $2.3 Billion Deal to Acquire Data Marketing Company Acxiom". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  5. 1 2 "Mapping, and Sharing, the Consumer Genome". The New York Times . 2012-06-16. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  6. 1 2 3 "Acxiom Corporation History". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  7. ↑ "Acxiom Expands Health Unit With Horizon Acquisition". dmnews.com. 1999-04-16. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  8. ↑ "Acxiom to Buy May & Speh for $600 Million". dmnews.com. 1998-05-28. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  9. ↑ Chief Marketer Staff (2004-11-30). "Acxiom Acquires Claritas Europe". Chief Marketer. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  10. ↑ "Meyer leaves Alcatel-Lucent to lead Acxiom". fiercetelecom.com. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  11. ↑ Chantal Todé (2008-07-11). "Acxiom acquires ChoicePoint's database marketing solutions division". Direct Marketing News. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
  12. ↑ Jones, Luke (2012-12-10). "Analysts Skeptical As Acxiom Works to Retain Global Presence". Arkansas Business — Business News, Real Estate, Law, Construction. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  13. ↑ "Acxiom Expands Its Global Data Services, Adds Three Countries". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  14. ↑ "Acxiom Acquires LiveRamp to Boost Offline-to-Online Data Capability". adage.com. 2014-05-14. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  15. ↑ "Acxiom closes sale of IT unit for $190M | Arkansas Democrat Gazette". www.arkansasonline.com. 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  16. ↑ Pro, WSJ (2015-08-07). "Deal Close Announcements Aug. 3-7". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  17. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2016-08-04). "Zeta Interactive acquires Acxiom Impact for over $50M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  18. 1 2 "Acxiom launches Audience Cloud for unified audience segmentation and targeting". martechtoday.com. 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  19. 1 2 "Acxiom Launches Tool For Linking Martech And Ad Tech". mediapost.com. 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2019-02-05.
  20. 1 2 A. M. P. Staff (2021-03-03). "Forge Institute, Acxiom Form Partnership to Boost Cybersecurity Training Opportunities". AMP. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  21. ↑ prweb (2021-08-17). "Goldman Sachs and Acxiom Partnership Recognized for Innovation". MarTech Series. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  22. ↑ "Fortune Best Workplaces for Women™ 2021". Great Place To Work®. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  23. ↑ "Acxiom integrates identity solution with Adobe to give marketers more control". Marketing Dive. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  24. ↑ Joseph, Seb (2022-09-26). "'Multiplier effect': Lower match rates in data clean rooms are being given a much-needed boost". Digiday. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  25. ↑ Woodruff, Jay (2022-02-08). "Announcing Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2022". Fast Company. Retrieved 2024-05-09.
  26. ↑ "IPG Unveils New Identity Platform Developed By Acxiom". www.mediapost.com. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  27. ↑ "Acxiom Health outshines competitors in head-to-head tests | MarTech Cube". 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  28. ↑ Beer, Jeff (2018-07-03). "Ad giant IPG bets big on consumer data with $2.3 billion Acxiom deal". fastcompany.com. Retrieved 2019-01-14.
  29. ↑ "Profile: Acxiom Corp (ACXM.O)". reuters.com. 2018-12-04. Archived from the original on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  30. ↑ "Acxiom Expands Its Global Data Services, Adds Three Countries". mediapost.com. 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  31. ↑ "Acxiom Offers InfoBase Database as a List". dmnews.com. 1998-03-10. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  32. ↑ "Acxiom Launches Personicx International". dmnews.com. 2005-02-23. Retrieved 2019-02-06.
  33. ↑ "Locations". acxiom.com. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
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