QueryClick, an Edinburgh-based digital marketing consultancy that aims to transform how effectively advertisers invest in digital marketing, is to embark on an expansion drive following an investment of £2m led by Scotland’s leading business angel investment group, Archangels, in partnership with the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB).
QueryClick has developed a unique, machine learning-based attribution solution – marketing software that enables companies to precisely allocate their investments in different marketing channels to ensure the maximum possible return on investment.
While attribution solutions have long been widely available, including from companies such as Google and Adobe, QueryClick’s Corvidae reveals up to 334% more data for attribution than market-leading competitors, tracking the “customer journey” across all advertising platforms including television, newspapers, magazines, out of home and digital.
This unique level of insight enables Corvidae customers to benefit from increases of as much as 87% in the effectiveness of their digital advertising, whether using other digital marketing services and software from QueryClick’s portfolio or applying Corvidae insights to their in-house digital marketing activities.
The market for Corvidae is seen as substantial, with $316bn* worldwide forecast to be invested in digital advertising in 2019 alone.
QueryClick was founded in 2008 and employs 54 staff, who currently manage over £1bn of client spend in 28 countries worldwide. It counts well-known brands including Aggreko, BT, EE and Vitality among its clients.
It will use the £2m investment from Archangels and SIB – the investment arm of Scotland’s main economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise – to recruit additional analysts and sales staff and to mount a significant marketing effort to accelerate its growth in this fast-developing sector.
Chris Liversidge, Founder and CEO of QueryClick, said: “When digital marketing took off, everything was supposed to be measurable and optimisable – but, in fact, attribution has for years been digital marketing’s broken promise.
We recognised that the emergence of machine learning offered a new opportunity for our industry to get attribution right for advertisers, who deserve better, and this investment gives us renewed impetus to take our unique solution out to them.”
Niki McKenzie, Investment Director at Archangels, said: “Knowing which advertising works, and which doesn’t, has always been the holy grail for advertisers. QueryClick’s software is already proving its immense value to its early adopters, making us confident that, with the right support, QueryClick will prove to be another success story for Scotland in this fast-developing sector.”
Kerry Sharp, Director of SIB, said: “This investment will help QueryClick realise the full potential of its unique product offering in a dynamic and fast-growing market. Scottish Enterprise has been working with the company for 10 years, from the start-up phase through product innovation and organisational development, so it’s great to see the company expand and create more jobs. We look forward to working further with them on their continued growth journey.”
* eMarketer estimates spending on internet advertising worldwide will reach $316 billion in 2019. Nearly 50% of all advertising spending will go towards online advertisements that appear on desktop and laptop computers, mobile phones, tablets and internet-connected devices. Digital advertising is projected to reach $427bn by 2022.
