Sprinklr, a New York City provider of social media management tools, has acquired highly targeted advocacy influencer platform, Branderati. The deal marks Sprinklr's third acquisition in about six months — a continuation of what the firm calls its strategy to grow "aggressively and smartly."
In February, Sprinklr bought Austin, Texas-based Dachis Group, a social analytics company, and formed the largest independent end-to-end social relationship platform in the market.
And just last month it bought TBG Digital, a company that considers itself a pioneer of corporate advertising on Facebook and Twitter. The acquisition was designed to amplify Sprinklr’s reach across social media.
Now it's bought Branderati, a company that boasts that it helps brands identify their most passionate “advocate influencers” and take those relationships to the next level to drive brand advocacy and loyalty. Ekaterina Walter, Branderati's co-founder and CMO, told CMSWire this morning that the deal capitalizes on the complimentary strengths of both companies. "As we've watched Sprinklr grow and transform to a provider of a robust, all in one platform, it became very, very obvious to us that Branderati was a key part that solution," she said.
Capitalizing on Big Opportunities
Sprinklr CEO Ragy Thomas noted that the firm has grown 300 percent year-over-year, and boosted employment from 30 to 530 in the past two years.
The company works with more than 650 brands worldwide, including what it calls four of the top five banks, three of the top six insurance companies, three of the top seven hotel brands, the top two consumer packaged goods companies and "many of the biggest names in tech," including Cisco, Dell and Samsung.
Sprinklr's goal is to help companies manage all aspects of their social investment and deliver what it calls "a consistently great experience across every paid, owned and earned social touchpoint."
In a statement, Thomas noted, "We’re sitting at the crossroads of a huge market opportunity combined with a big vision and a comprehensive solution for social. We’ve nailed owned media, now have paid media and now have earned media."
Addressing Client Needs
He said the acquisition of Branderati will enable Sprinklr to "deliver the industry’s only fully integrated, enterprise grade paid, owned and earned media (POEM) solution for managing customer experiences enterprise wide." The deal will accelerate client activity for advocacy focused earned media, an area of increasing importance as organic social reach matures, he added.
Jeremy Epstein, vice president of marketing at Sprinklr, told CMSWire the management team is "well aware of how importance advocacy is in the age of social. Providing this piece of the solution to our clients is great for them, and anything that's good for our clients gets me fired up."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Creating Measurable Value
Branderati founder and CEO Mark Curtis said his company focuses on creating sustainable brand advocacy programs by recruiting, engaging and measuring the impact of brands’ most passionate and socially influential fans. The company's clients span multiple industries including consumer packaged goods, fashion, retail and tech. They include brands such as Bath & Body Works, HP, Black & Decker, the NBA and People StyleWatch Magazine.
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Curtis also founded two other digital agencies, enter:new media and enter:marketing.
What else should you know about him? According to his LinkedIn profile, he's "always animated and not nearly as serious as his profile picture suggests." And his company website notes that when he is "not passionately trailblazing the industry, he explores the world in the search of roads less travelled with his greyhound Gary Coleman."
Curtis will join Sprinkr as general manager of its influencer and advocacy business unit. "Advocacy has moved from hype to a business driver," Walter noted.
A social media strategist and innovator who pioneered social media techniques at Intel, Walter will join as global evangelism lead. "I will be working with Fortune 500 companies on social business strategies and serving as the face of the company," she explained.
She's an international speaker and author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller "Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg" and co-author of "The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Marketing Your Brand."
In addition to a passion for helping companies "transform into social businesses and empowering true advocacy," she concedes she is "addicted to chocolate, building meaningful relationships and good books."
She teased the acquisition on Twitter yesterday, stating:
About to announce something really cool tomorrow. Excited!
— Ekaterina Walter (@Ekaterina) September 2, 2014 Does she plan to indulge her love of chocolate to celebrate the deal today? "You know it," she said. "Big time."
