When I began researching the marketing automation market late last year, it seemed like a crowded market. It seemed clear at the time that the competitive fog produced by the various marketing platforms was obscuring the very real benefits that technology delivers to marketers, and that the end result would be consolidation.
Yesterday, Adobe helped clear some of this fog by completing its acquisition of privately held marketing automation vendor, Neolane. What impact will this have? My news analysis can be found here – and the official release here.
From a platform point of view, Adobe is filling the gaps in marketing technology arsenal, with:
- Analytics – the data and data crunching at your fingertips
- Target – personalisation and targeting
- Social – executing and measuring social marketing programs
- Experience Manager – cross platform content digital asset management and optimisation
- Media Optimizer – managing and optimising cross channel campaigns
And with Neolane joining the Marketing Cloud offering, Adobe is aiming to be the marketing technology partner of choice. Expect to see more activity in this crowded market.
Image: 
Kevin Dooley via Compfight
