Force24 acquires tech pioneered by former Ogilvy social head

Marketing automation platform Force24 has announced its acquisition of the social media innovation SoAmpli for an undisclosed sum, in what marks the company’s latest move to become the UK’s leading martech provider.

SoAmpli is the brainchild of Maz Nadjm, who also founded one of the UK’s first social networks 2BMates and social agency Rareface, before joining renowned communications firm Ogilvy where he became head of social media. 

The product – which aims to turn all company employees into savvy social sellers – has won awards for its multichannel influence, listening and sharing capabilities, and is used by brands including Rentokil Initial, British Heart Foundation and DAZN.

As both a client and supplier to SoAmpli, the Force24 team has long been familiar with what it can do. So when discussions unfolded as to how to take the brand to the next level, an acquisition was soon on the cards.

Commenting on the outcome, Maz Nadjm – who Forbes named in the world’s top 50 social media power influencers in 2012 – said: “We wanted to do something different with SoAmpli when this journey started four years ago. We harnessed the power of human and artificial intelligence to generate next level conversations between sales and marketing teams, and their prospects. And the beauty of it, is that it’s all automated, which means the fit with Force24 is perfect. I have long admired Force24’s desire to craft value-added, customer focused solutions, whilst also building a great team and culture. SoAmpli will slot beautifully into their suite of marketing automation products.”

Nick Washbourne, commercial director at Force24 added: “Maz wants SoAmpli to change the way brands create social media dialogue and we are wholeheartedly behind that same mission. Having invested £5m in our product to date, we’re constantly evolving our marketing automation portfolio, and a social media tool was next on our roadmap. But we didn’t just want a scheduling tool. We wanted something that could seamlessly integrate into our stack and enhance our vision of supercharging a marketer’s world.”

SoAmpli will maintain its London base, as Force24 looks ahead to its own geographical expansion in 2019, but the team will work more collaboratively to onboard and support customers moving forwards. There are plans in the pipeline for further investment in the social tool too, Nick has eluded.

“Watch this space for added attribution reporting functionality, for example, so that clients can better understand the ROI they generate from their comms. But our tech roadmap is extremely customer driven, so things won’t end there,” added Nick.

He also confirmed that Force24 will continue its acquisition trail over the next 12-18 months.

Source: Force24

  Agency, Digital, Force24, Marketing, Martech, Maz Nadjm, Mergers & Acquisitions, Ogilvy, SoAmpli, Technology, UK