Salesforce Steps Into Ad Tech Via 5 Partnerships
Salesforce has partnered with ad tech firms Krux, LiveRamp, LiveIntent, Neustar and Viant to expand its "Active Audiences" product, which enables  buyers to use their CRM data for digital advertising campaigns. Salesforce has plugged into leading data management platforms and real-time ad platforms to get a foothold in the programmatic advertising world, and will also allow buyers to reach consumers on Facebook and Twitter.
by Tyler Loechner @mp_tyler, June 17, 2015

Salesforce is using the weight of Big Data to expand into the world of advertising technology.

The company has announced an expansion of its “Active Audiences” product, which enables buyers to use their CRM data for digital advertising campaigns. Salesforce has partnered with ad tech firms Krux, LiveRamp, LiveIntent, Neustar and Viant to round out the audience-targeting offering.

Essentially, Salesforce has plugged into leading data management platforms (DMPs) and real-time ad platforms to get a foothold in the programmatic advertising world.

“[T]hrough these partners we can help marketers to advertise across the entire display advertising ecosystem, using a single view of their customer,” wrote Liam Doyle, VP and GM of advertising products at Salesforce, in a post announcing the launch of the Active Audiences product on Medium. “These partners will enable our clients to leverage any of the primary advertising networks and technology platforms they already use to support their customer journeys with connected advertising.”

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In addition to tapping into ad networks and ad exchanges, Salesforce’s new audience-targeting tech will allow buyers to reach consumers on Facebook and Twitter, as Salesforce is already integrated with Facebook Custom Audiences and Twitter Tailored Audiences.

The main draw of Salesforce’s audience-targeting tech is that it allows buyers to use their own CRM data, meaning they can send highly targeted ads to an audience they already know and understand. However, Salesforce is also offering buyers “lookalike modeling” tech, per Doyle, which allows buyers to prospect for new customers based on the behaviors of their existing customers.

This type of model-based targeting is gaining traction, as retargeting firm AdRoll released a similar product earlier this week.