After Socialbakers, Now Brandwatch Also Hires Big To Build Out Analytics Platform

Last week Socialbakers, a social analytics startup which has raised $8m so far hired its first chief marketing officer — Neil Morgan, who recently left an EMEA VP position at Adobe. And it now seems to be the season for hires for these social analytics startups, given that Brandwatch, another big social media monitoring and analytics provider, has now appointed Will McInnes, former founder of Nixon Mcinnes, as the company’s first global chief marketing officer.

This might be a footnote, were it not for the fact that last year Brandwatch raised $6 million from Nauta Capital and current shareholders to expand internationally, putting almost on a par with SocialBakers. Arguably, Brandwatch has a similar position given that it has 300 companies using its platform, including global companies like HSBC, DDB, Ipsos and Mediacom.

So-called ‘social media’ agencies now have a problem. These data-led startups are starting to eat their lunch, especially given that one for the key players now has the former head of social agency leading the charge.

In this space, Radian 6 is the big competitor (sold to Salesforce in 2011 for $326 million). Others include Tracx in Tel Aviv, Conversocial in London/New York, NetBase and Sysmosos.

A well-known industry player, McInnes keynoted at various conferences around the world. He’ll develop a marketing organisation and brand that will support the company through it’s growth and will be based in New York City. His book, Culture Shock – a handbook for 21st century business’ appeared this year.

Founded in 2007 by CEO Giles Palmer, Brandwatch is based in Brighton, UK, with offices in New York and Germany. Its system reads and summarizes what’s being said on the web about brands, people and products against defined keywords. The brands can then respond, but also analyze trends, campaigns and competitors.