August 13, 2015

Publishers Clearing House takes another step into ad-tech

You've almost certainly heard of Publishers Clearing House, the sweepstakes direct-mail distributor that made its name before "spam" existed.

You've almost certainly heard of Publishers Clearing House, the sweepstakes direct-mail distributor that made its name before "spam" existed. PCH is the organization that videotaped citizens receiving gigantic checks for gigantic sums of money after they'd won a signature contest. Today, the model might seem a bit outdated, which perhaps explains the company's movements in tech M&A to beef up new avenues for reaching consumers in the digital age. 

A few years ago, PCH purchased Liquid, a startup that has become the digital wing of operations for the company. 

"Liquid was bought by PCH in 2011 to help leverage its vast reserves of direct consumer data, and says it now owns 100 million consumer profiles, including 140 billion 'first party' data points. First party data contains direct data about consumer characteristics, and is considered the most valuable form of marketing data."

This week, it was announced that PCH has made another tech acquisition with the purchase of CommandIQ, a San Francisco startup focusing on predictive CRM management. Senior staff at PCH say the move demonstrates an "evolution" of services to provide a more detailed and modernized ad service to clients. The focus on tech entrepreneurship may help PCH grow into the present day, rebranding the company as a digital juggernaut rather than a dinosaur of direct mail. 

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