CMNTY Acquired by Dutch Firm UmbrellaBrand

Dutch marcoms network UmbrellaBrand Group has acquired DIY data collection platform CMNTY Corporation, for an undisclosed sum. UmbrellaBrand's CEO Jorgen Botermans says the deal provides the group with a stepping-stone to the North American market.

CMNTY's flagship platform combines a variety of qual and quant tools into a single solution for recruitment, data collection, participant engagement and data analysis. As the name suggests, insight community creation and management are key elements, but the platform is also used for online focus groups, in-depth interviews and other methods. The firm has offices in Eindhoven and New York City and generates more than half of its turnover in the US and Canada.

As part of UmbrellaBrand Group, CMNTY joins MR boutique agency MarketResponse, data consultancy 4orange, behavioural science specialist Wonder Insights and B2B data provider RealTime Lead Group. UmbrellaBrand says the buy takes it into the US market, and will allow it to set up a software house for marketing solutions, led by CMNTY founder Maxim Schram (pictured), who will continue in the role of CMNTY CEO based in NYC.

Botermans explains: 'With this acquisition we respond to the growing need of companies to be able to conduct in-house research with user-friendly digital tooling. Our goal is to build a software house with a complete portfolio of digital marketing solutions, in addition to the data solutions and market research that we already offer. Our successful products such as Direct Feedback (experience management software), quantitative data collection software SmartAllies, Ennis and the Customer Data Platform Connect, will eventually also form part of this software house'.

Web sites: www.umbrellabrand.nl and www.cmnty.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.