Great event - All belgian users took up the challenge

No less than ten teams were starting yesterday on the first Unica Karting Challenge at the Brussels Kart racetrack in Groot-Bijgaarden near Brussels. The teams included Fortis (2 teams), KBC, WDM, …as well as Unica with an own team as well.

After a full brief by the racetrack personnel and an outfitting session with overallsm, bacalas and helmets, the teams warmed up for a few rounds before the real race, endurance 1 hour and 25 minutes, began.

After intense battles, clever maneuvers and seamless pilot changes, the team of WDM took away the trophy. Belgacom came in second and Mobistar on third place. The “All girls” team from Fortis got an extra prize for their performance.

Afterwards, all teams mingeled up for drinks at the bar of the racetrack and enjoyed some minutes of the semifinal between Spain and Russia.

More pictures of this event are available on: http://picasaweb.google.com/pvanimpe/UnicaChallenge2008

Congratulations to all participants who took this years' challenge.

Unica sees half-year international revenues double

Unica experiences high growth in demand for marketing solutions in Europe.

Waltham, MA - June 17, 2008 - Unica Corporation (Nasdaq: UNCA), a leading global provider of enterprise marketing management (EMM) solutions, reports that it has seen dramatic growth in demand for marketing automation solutions in Europe as well as Asia Pacific, resulting in an increase in revenue of more than 100% in those regions for the first six months of fiscal year 2008 compared to the same period one year before. Unica’s customers span many sectors in Europe, and include 20 telecom companies as well as more than 40 of Europe’s largest financial services organizations, including half of the Forbes 30 top-ranking businesses in the financial services category.

Unica’s continued success in Europe stems from both new and continued user adoption by industry leaders including Bank of Ireland, BBVA, Commerzbank, Fortis, ING, Nationwide Building Society, O2 Germany, Unilever and Bel Group. These innovative organizations use Unica’s software as their main marketing automation platform; Unica’s technology allows them to execute highly targeted campaigns across multiple channels such as mail, internet and call center.

“Unica’s focus on multi-channel marketing is key to the success reflected in these figures,” said Marcel Holsheimer, Unica’s vice president of marketing for EMEA. “The convergence between on and offline marketing is something that marketers can no longer afford to ignore. They are under increasing pressure from consumers — to extend relevant offers and messages across any of the channels — and from management — to prove ROI and justify budgets. These factors are driving organizations to purchase software to help streamline and better target their increasingly complex marketing campaigns.”

In the January 2008 Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Marketing Platforms, Q1 2008, Forrester forecasts annual growth in excess of 20% over the next five years for the enterprise marketing platforms market. The report also named Unica a leader in this market.
Unica is responding to this market demand by expanding its presence throughout Europe. In addition to its EMEA headquarters in the UK, the company also has offices in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

Unilever kiest Unica voor ontwikkeling Multi-Channel-Marketingcampagnes

Amsterdam - Unica Corporation (Nasdaq: UNCA), de wereldwijde marktleider van software voor Enterprise Marketing Management (EMM) en de Sogec Marketing Group, specialist in Client Relationship Management, zijn door Unilever Frankrijk geselecteerd voor het beheer van hun marketingcampagnes..

Unilever Frankrijk is onderdeel van de Unilever Group, wereldwijd met circa 150 miljoen consumenten het op een na grootste bedrijf actief in voeding en persoonlijke verzorging. In verband met de snelle groei in Frankrijk heeft Unilever aan Unica en Sogec de opdracht gegeven om de strategische planning en ontwikkeling van het multichannel-CRM-programma ‘Pour tout Vous Dire’ te optimaliseren.

Binnen die samenwerking zorgt Sogec voor de expertise op het gebied van datamanagement. Het bedrijf host de Franse klantendatabase van Unilever, die miljoenen klantnamen bevat. Deze informatie wordt opgeschoond en gesegmenteerd, waarmee het mogelijk is de data effectief te gebruiken in combinatie met de Affinium Campaign-software van Unica voor campagnebeheer.

Met de Unica-oplossing kan Unilever nu gepersonaliseerde communicatie creëren, testen, optimaliseren, inzetten en analyseren. Affinium Campaign speelt zo in op de strategische behoeften van marketeers door de juiste boodschap op het juiste moment te versturen via het juiste kanaal. Dit resulteert in klantgerichte marketing. Door deze oplossing te combineren met Affinium Campaign eMessage voor gepersonaliseerde e-mail- en sms-campagnes, ontstaat voor Unilever een ideale multi-channel-omgeving voor het verbeteren van klantloyaliteit.

“We gebruiken de software van Unica elke dag en profiteren van de integratie van de oplossing met onze bestaande Franse klantendatabase die door Sogec gehost wordt. Dit zorgt voor een beter beheer van onze marketingcampagnes”, zegt Juliette Chapront, die bij Unilever Frankrijk verantwoordelijk is voor databasemanagement. “We kunnen nu sneller reageren op vragen en gerichte campagnes en aanbiedingen creëren.”

“We zijn blij dat we de Unilever Groep kunnen ondersteunen bij het ontwikkelen van haar klantstrategie”, zegt Francis Bancaleiro, marketingdirecteur bij Unica in Frankrijk. Thierry Fasolin van Sogec Datamark Services vult aan: “Deze samenwerking met een van de belangrijkste partijen op het gebied van consumentenproducten onderstreept de relevantie en waarde van ons partnership met Unica.”

Unica Challenge 2008 - June 26th 2008 Brussels Karting

Unica is the company to power your marketing success – in the real sense of the word: For the first time, we are organising the Unica Challenge, this year held on June 26th at the Brussel Kart race-track in Groot-Bijgaarden.

Secure your seat in one of the top teams of Belgium´s Unica users! A good time and beyond a good chance to exchange your opinions across the Belgian Unica community are guaranteed!

Register today for a driver´s seat and afterwards a get-together with Unica and other companies using our solutions. The warm-up starts at 18:00 on Thursday 26 June 2008, mark it in your calendar now!
Please contact Philippe van Impe at Unica (+ 32 477 23 78 42 or pvanimpe@unica.com) to reserve your seat, we are looking forward to see you there!

Take on the challenge NOW!

Best regards,

Philippe van Impe
http://www.brusselskart.be/
pvanimpe@unica.com
http://www.unica.com/

Contact Philippe for more details.

Unilever selects Sogec and Unica to manage multi-channel marketing campaigns

London 11th June 2008 – Unica Corporation (Nasdaq: UNCA), a leading global provider of enterprise marketing management (EMM) software and the Sogec Marketing group, specialising in Client Relationship Management, have been selected by Unilever France, part of the Unilever Group, to manage its marketing campaigns.

Unilever is one of the largest and most admired global brands, offering a wide range of products - from food to personal care - used by 150 million consumers in the world. Amid its continued rapid growth and development, Unilever France turned to Sogec and Unica to optimise its strategic planning and multi-channel CRM programme, “Pour tout Vous Dire”.

Sogec brings its considerable data management expertise to the project; it hosts Unilever France’s consumer databases, which store millions of contacts. This information is successively cleansed and segmented and is then ready for use with Unica Affinium® Campaign™.

Affinium Campaign, combined with Affinium Campaign eMessage™ -- Unica’s application for personalised email and SMS campaigns -- enables the creation, testing, optimisation, deployment and analysis of Unilever’s personalised marketing communications. It also addresses the strategic needs of marketers by allowing the right message to be sent at the right time through the appropriate channel. This results in more customer-focused marketing and allows Unilever to meet its objective of increasing its customer loyalty.

“We use Unica’s software daily and appreciate the efficiency of the solution’s integration with our existing French consumer database, hosted by Sogec. We have been able to improve the management of our marketing campaigns,” said Juliette Chapront, head of database management at Unilever France. “As a result we can now respond to demands quickly and develop targeted marketing campaigns and offers.”

“We are thrilled to support the Unilever Group in the development of its customer strategy,” said Francis Bancaleiro, marketing director of Unica France.

“This collaboration with one of the most important specialists in the consumer products market confirms the relevance and value of our partnership with Unica,” added Thierry Fasolin, acting manager of Sogec Datamark Services.

MIS Europe registration is Open

Dear Affinium user,

We hope that you can join us for Unica’s Marketing Innovation Summit on the 6-8 October 2008. Europe’s leading enterprise marketing management conference.

What to expect:
Learn about the latest strategies for delivering targeted communications, engaging your customers in meaningful dialog, and improving your marketing processes.

Cross channel marketing. Marketeers turn to new ways of communicating with their customers and prospects, combining both inbound and outbound channels. Attend our customer presentations and best practice tracks and learn how you can successfully orchestrate interactions across in & outbound channels.

Master the on-line channel. Learn how to incorporate the on-line channel in your marketing strategies, and take advantage of the wealth of data and ease of personalization that the internet provides.

Learn best practices & technology. Learn what is possible with todays and tomorrows marketing technology and see how fellow marketeers deployed this to success.
Get more out of your Unica software. Refresh your knowledge in the hands-on training. Learn the tips & tricks from our experts.

This three day conference offers
Over 30 tracks – both technical and business oriented
Best practice presentations from more than 10 leading organizations
Keynote sessions from Gartner and other industry experts
Pre and post conference training
Test drive the latest technology live in 1:1 product demonstrations
1:1 meetings with Gartner and Unica Executives
Receive an update on Unica's evolving roadmap, and understand how Unica’s products can solve your current and future needs

Kind regards,
Marcel Holsheimer

Bizz: De parallel tussen marketing en eenentwintigen

In Bizz verscheen dit kort artikel over Unica:
http://www.trends.be/nl/bizz/de-parallel-tussen-marketing-en-eenentwintigen/site37-section10-article3460.html

Vandaag komt de film '21' uit in België. Deze film met Kevin Spacey en Laurence Fishburne is gebaseerd op het waargebeurde verhaal van Yuchun Lee, CEO van softwarebedrijf Unica Corporation. Als student ontwikkelde hij een systeem om de kaarten van blackjack (beter bekend als eenentwintigen) te voorspellen. Met vijf kompanen maakte hij honderden casino's miljoenen dollars lichter. Yuchun Lee ziet een duidelijke parallel tussen eenentwintigen en marketing. Wat werkt in het casino... De methode om te winnen met blackjack is gebaseerd op een eenvoudig principe: de kaarten tellen en aan de hand van de gespeelde kaarten de volgende kaarten voorspellen en de tactiek bepalen. Yuchun Lee en zijn medestudenten aan het MIT waren bijzonder begaafd en werkten een ingenieuze wiskundige methode uit om de kaarten te tellen en te voorspellen terwijl ze blackjack speelden. Er kwam niets geheimzinnigs bij kijken. "Eigenlijk gokten we niet. We werkten", zegt Lee over zijn vele casinoavondjes. ...werkt ook in de marketing Marketing heeft evenmin te maken met mysterie of geluk. De marketeer analyseert aan de hand van harde gegevens het (koop)gedrag van zijn (potentiële) klanten. Met die informatie probeert hij te voorspellen hoe geïnteresseerd de consumenten zijn in zijn producten en diensten. Op basis hiervan werkt hij gerichte campagnes uit. Bij Lee verloopt dat via uitgekiende softwaremodellen. De software die zijn bedrijf Unica maakt, vervangt de meeste handelingen van de marketeer, inclusief informatie over klanten opzoeken en opslaan, marketingcampagnes ontwikkelen en uitvoeren. Met die software kunnen bedrijven verschillende gegevensbronnen analyseren om klanten op te sporen, hun behoeften te identificeren en daar marketingcampagnes op af te stemmen. De computer als marketeer?

Northern Europe User Group

Join Unica for our first Local User Group for Northern Europe. Unica believes in promoting customer engagement and as the company continues to grow we will facilitate two types of events going forward.
- One will be in country Local User Groups, which are an informal setting for local users, creating a bi-directional exchange of product direction and customer input. Mingle with fellow users for in-depth information about the latest trends, market insights and strategies for success.
- The second type of event is MIS Europe, a pan European event (6-8 October 2008, Barcelona), the European version of our large Global conference.

We are extremely pleased to have the head of R&D John Hogan at this Local User Group event. As many of you know, Unica is focused on product enhancements with over 200 developers worldwide. John is heading up that team and will give us the ins and outs of current products and strategy.

Agenda at a glance:
Affinium 7.5 preview – John Hogan will walk us through the key elements of the imminent product release, focusing on new product and functionality enhancements.
Product roadmap discussion – John Hogan will talk through the evolving product roadmap. This will also be an ideal opportunity for you to influence future developments.
Learn how to get more value out of your Unica software from the tips, tricks and best practice sessions.
Customer case study.
Unica update – Unica has enjoyed significant growth in EMEA over the last few years. Chris Manton-Jones will give a high-level corporate update on the company’s direction, both globally and specifically in Europe.
Enjoy the facilities at Mercedes-Benz World where you can visit the show floor, the museum, and also experience the virtual making of a car tour.
We will end the afternoon with networking drinks.
Date: 10 July 2008
Time: 10:30–17:00
Venue: Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands Drive, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0SL
RSVP:
Heidi Barrington: hbarrington@unica.com+44 (0) 1895 204 513

We will have a prize draw where two lucky customers will receive an AMG driving experience. I look forward to seeing you there!!

Kind regards,
Chris Manton-Jones
VP & Managing Director, Europe, Middle East & Africa

Introduction to Campaign 7 course 25th – 27th June

Hi all,

Please be aware we are offering customers and partners an Introduction to Campaign 7 course 25th – 27th June. Can you let me know if there is anyone in particular you would like me to contact.

Many Thanks

Laura Manners
Post Sales Operations Manager
Unica Corporation