Silverpop Acquires Location-Based Marketing Platform PlacePunch

ATLANTA, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Silverpop™, the only provider of a scalable, integrated email marketing and marketing automation platform, today announced its acquisition of Atlanta-based PlacePunch, a location-based marketing platform. The acquisition brings a new dimension to Silverpop's Social Connect strategy, designed to help marketers drive revenue by being where their customers are, all the time.  

With hundreds of thousands of users signing up for Foursquare every week and Facebook now incorporating a location option into nearly everything a user does, having a location-based marketing strategy can not only increase customer loyalty and brand affinity but can also extend the reach of marketing messages. PlacePunch makes it easy to engage customers via location check-ins incorporated into multi-channel campaigns. Its suite of marketing programs instantly works across all major location-based social networks such as Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter and includes the following components:

• Rewards Programs that deliver special incentives to customers who check-in to a particular location
• Check-in Contests that drive customer visits, brand engagement and social-media buzz
• Location-Based Offers designed to increase traffic to specific locations by automatically sending offers to nearby customers
• Check-In Messaging that drives email opt-ins, promotes new products or simply thanks customers for visiting a store, trade show booth or even virtual location
• Reporting and Analytics to evaluate and enhance location-based campaigns

"Today, marketers must listen carefully to their customers and deliver the most relevant content at the moment they want it most," said Bill Nussey, president and CEO of Silverpop. "Our acquisition of PlacePunch, a true pioneer in the location-based marketing space, provides a remarkably powerful opportunity for our customers to market to people who have clearly indicated an interest in their company and a desire to purchase its products or services. This is an incredibly important insight and I am looking forward to seeing our customers benefit from making it part of their campaigns."

PlacePunch, founded by Chris Glace and Adam Steinberg, is the latest addition to Silverpop's Social Connect collection of products and features.  Social Connect also includes Share-to-Social, giving marketers the ability to quickly turn emails into socially-enabled viral messages and Social Sign-In, which allows site visitors to register for online offers by signing in with their existing social network accounts.  Silverpop was the first in its industry to offer these features.  In April, Silverpop also provided its customers with location-based marketing capabilities via a Foursquare "To-Do Button" option.  Through this functionality, marketers create personalized, location-based marketing messages that recipients can easily add to their Foursquare account-delivering incredibly relevant offers at the time of check-in. 

"We are excited to join forces with Silverpop to help marketers stay one step ahead of their customers by being where they are, literally," said Adam Steinberg, co-founder and CEO of PlacePunch.  "The fact that Silverpop was a fellow Atlanta-based start-up just 11 years ago, also brings an additional level of excitement to this new opportunity. By combining PlacePunch's location-based marketing features with Silverpop's marketing automation platform, we can truly enable marketers to reach customers at exactly the right time and location."

While the exact terms of the deal will not be disclosed, Steinberg will be joining Silverpop as Segment Marketing Director for Social Media and Glace will serve as a Product Innovation Architect after successfully integrating PlacePunch into Silverpop Engage.

About Silverpop

Silverpop is the only marketing technology provider that offers a powerful marketing automation solution built atop a scalable email marketing platform. The company has more than a decade of experience empowering marketers to deliver highly relevant communications that efficiently drive revenue while also building brand loyalty. Companies rely on the Silverpop Engage platform to create and manage sophisticated multichannel marketing campaigns that nurture customer and prospect relationships from interest to conversion and beyond. Silverpop's industry-leading thought capital, strategic counsel and customer service, combined with an extensive ecosystem of world class partners, allow its customers to quickly and cost-effectively automate even the most complex campaigns—improving marketing results and increasing ROI. With a presence in the United States, Europe and Australia, Silverpop is trusted by leading brands around the globe. Visit us at silverpop.com.

About PlacePunch

PlacePunch makes it easy for marketers to run location-based marketing programs across Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter.  Companies rely on PlacePunch to easily integrate location-based check-ins into loyalty programs, sweepstakes and messaging programs, helping them to reach customers when it's most relevant, increase customer visits and drive social media awareness.  PlacePunch is headquartered in Atlanta. For more information, visit placepunch.com.

Media Contact:
Stacy Kirk
Manager of Corporate Communications-Silverpop
[email protected]
770-661-0633

SOURCE Silverpop