ADOTAS – Here’s the digital heads-up on the latest industry happenings:
SilverpopTM, a digital marketing technology provider that unifies marketing automation, email, mobile and social, today announced it has received $25 million in new funding. With these additional funds, the company will continue to accelerate its growth and customer success across the globe. Silverpop finished 2012 with impressive new business growth of 40 percent as compared to 2011. Last year the company added 380 new customers, a third of which turned to the company for its marketing automation offerings and 60 percent of them specifically looking to drive revenue by focusing on buyer behavior.
C Squared, organizer of The Festival of Media, today announced the five companies shortlisted in this year’s Media Accelerator Programme (MAP). New media companies Adnologies, Future Ad Labs, RealEyes, Tedemis and ZnapTag will take to the stage at The Festival of Media Global 2013 to present their companies to attending CMOs, advertisers and agencies to vie for the title of “Hot Company of the Year 2013.” Chosen by a panel made up of influential entrepreneurs, investors, advisors and strategists in global media, this year’s shortlist represents the next generation of tailored marketing solutions. The companies chosen to speak at the Festival all present new technologies that enable brands to maximize the efficiency and impact of marketing campaigns through heightened personalization, enhanced metrics and richer user experiences.
sparks & honey, a next generation cultural identification agency, has appointed Sarah DaVanzo (pictured) to the newly created role of Chief Cultural Strategy Officer, effective immediately. In this expanded leadership 
role, Davanzo will head up the cultural strategy team, overseeing all client projects. She will report to Terry Young, Founder and CEO of sparks & honey. Davanzo joins sparks & honey following her position as Director of Trends and Culture at Publicis Kaplan Thaler, where she was responsible for the agency’s overall strategic trends and cultural strategy output for all clients across the verticals of retail, fashion, financial services, automotive, pharma, hospitality and CPG.
SponsorPay, the leader in engagement advertising, has launched AdPlanner, a new addition to its BrandEngage® advertising platform designed to increase the targeting precision of its campaigns. This audience verification tool was developed based on insights delivered by Nielsen, a global leading provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. Nielsen’s online audience reports cover applications in SponsorPay’s publisher network in four European markets and the US, and enable advertisers to achieve incisive reach. AdPlanner allows for direct access to audience data and organizes the information with high accuracy according to campaign objectives.
Visible Technologies®, a leading provider of social media monitoring, analytics and engagement for enterprise business marketers and agencies, today announced the appointment of Laurie Cansler and Kelvyn Flavall to the company’s executive team. Cansler assumes the role of Chief Financial Officer, bringing more than 20 years of experience working in a variety of finance roles including a previous position as CFO at Likewise Software, Inc. where she helped grow the company until its acquisition by EMC. Prior to her tenure at Likewise, Cansler was an analyst with Brueggerman and Johnson, a Seattle-based valuation company, and spent 11 years at AT&T where she was a Director on the Corporate Finance Team. Flavall assumes the role of Vice President of Engineering and Operations, bringing more than 25 years of experience working in the United States and New Zealand. Since moving to the U.S. in 1999, Flavall has expanded his experience with leading companies including Cap Gemini/Ernst & Young as a Senior Manager in their Advanced Development Center. He also headed large scale e-commerce development at Getty Images and Clearwire where he led teams responsible for customer acquisition and self-service account management.