MarketShare Buys Targeting Firm DataSong

In the US, cross-media analytics firm MarketShare has acquired retail analytics technology and customer targeting specialist DataSong. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2003, San Francisco-based DataSong develops software which mines customer purchase and behaviour data to find connections between the ads people saw online and the purchase they went on to make in-store. The firm can then target individual customers according to their buying behaviour.

MarketShare says the purchase will enable it to offer marketers complete cross-channel analytics capabilities. MarketShare is also launching DecisionCloud, a marketing science analytics platform, and will integrate DataSong's technology with this new capability.

DataSong's 50 employees will join the MarketShare team, giving the combined company nine offices worldwide. John Wallace, DataSong's CEO, will become MarketShare's Chief Growth Officer; Mike DeVries, DataSong's President, will become MarketShare's Head of Business Management; and other members of the DataSong team will assume key operational, technology and business development roles in the combined organization.

Jon Vein, co-founder and CEO of MarketShare, comments: 'This acquisition is a game-changing move for the marketplace. For marketers, the future is about engaging with customers on a one-to-one basis. Adding DataSong's technology and expertise in this area to MarketShare's category-leading platform takes actionable analytics to a whole new level for our clients worldwide.'

Web sites: www.marketshare.com and www.datasong.com .