Inmar Labels Its New Media Division Aki Technologies

Inmar Intelligence has made a big move to help brands, retailers and agencies scale personalization efforts.

The data platform company has formed a new media division and has named it Aki Technologies, following Inmar’s 2021 acquisition of the San Francisco-based digital marketing company. The move formalizes the companies’ joint value proposition for advertisers and retailers, as well as capitalizes on Aki’s “established brand equity and momentum” with marketers and agencies, according to a media release.

The division will integrate all of Inmar and Aki’s media offerings in one organization, led by Aaron Kechley, who formerly served as interim president of Inmar’s martech division. (Prior to that, he served as dataxu’s president, platform and executive vice president, product management & marketing.)

Marketers and retailers looking to target the right advertisements in the right moment will now have an easier time reaching the most receptive consumers at scale and across all screens, powered by verified retail transaction data.

Inmar says this recent move will help advertisers activate more “data-informed” digital media campaigns, reach verified audiences based on their buying habits and scale reach across all digital media channels, per the release.

The Aki division’s integrated data set and digital media product suite includes:

• Social Unbound. Proprietary targeting within social media’s walled gardens enabled by Aki's predictive models for advertising receptivity and Inmar's verified transaction data. Social Unbound also features original creator content in beyond social media to amplify the content’s reach and impact.
• Retail Media powered by Aki Moments. Moments targeting aims to enhance retailers’ transaction data with contextual signals to achieve greater scale and acquire new customers across off-platform channels. Now, moments and personalization can also enhance retailers’ owned inventory across their website, app, emails and other touchpoints to provide more relevant onsite experiences.
• CTV Attribution. Inmar-enhanced sales lift attribution for Aki's connected TV advertising campaigns. This follows Aki’s 2022 release of CTV One, which enables CTV advertisers to run campaigns with the promise of "frequency without fatigue" to enhance campaign performance while combating viewers’ top issue: repetitive ads.

In an interview with Path to Purchase Institute sibling publication Progressive Grocer, Kechley emphasized four core pillars the division is using to help retailers and advertisers break through and earn the attention of the shoppers.

“The four elements are: Moments AI, which is about identifying the right moment to reach a consumer with a particular message. The second element is personalization, or making the message as relevant as possible with all the information that we can bring to bear. The third element is exclusive data. And this is really the biggest thing that Inmar brings to the table, all the data that we have that retailers and brands entrust us with. And then the fourth element is measuring,” he said.

Kechley also told PG that he sees a lot of growth potential in offsite media, specifically as it relates to retail media in the grocery sector.

One CPG manufacturer who has leveraged Inmar’s social solution for several years is PepsiCo, which has also utilized Aki’s moments-based targeting and personalization solution across its portfolio of brands.

“I’m excited to see how our partnership grows now that these complementary solutions have joined forces,” Drew Ingram, director of portfolio media strategy at PepsiCo, said in the release.

Inmar has acquired several companies in the last 10 years to bolster its media assets and data offerings. Past acquisitions include Youtech, OwnerIQ and Collective Bias.

Inmar credits Aki’s credibility within the advertising industry as driving the company’s decision to validate and scale its brand equity across Inmar’s greater media division. The division now offers clients triple the resources compared to legacy Aki, with a combined workforce of nearly 500 people.