The Engauge 2011 Start-Ups Report

Venture capitalists are clamoring to throw cash at young companies, chasing the next big thing in mobile apps and social media. Recently, jaw-dropping valuations of Facebook, Groupon and Zynga have fueled buzz about a new tech bubble, but behind those billion-dollar behemoths is a new class of groundbreaking innovators:

  • Get Glue: CEO Alex Iskold discusses the impact of media check-ins on TV advertising and explains why the stickiest mix of rewards includes game mechanics, social interactions and good recommendations.
  • Crimson Hexagon: CEO Scott Centurino talks about how machine-reading of online sentiment can help marketers move beyond last-generation “buzz” tools and learn how consumers truly feel about brands and competitors.
  • BlueCava: CMO Dean Harris explores the practical implications of a new digital device behavioral registry that tracks machines instead of people, providing relevant and sequential messaging for brands without compromising consumer privacy.
  • PlacePunch: CEO Adam Steinberg explains why brands launching their own location-based marketing programs no longer have to agonize over the choice of channels. They can simultaneously manage Foursquare, Facebook Places, and Gowalla from the same dashboard.
  • Figment: CEO Jacob Lewis reveals why the company’s decision to spend six months beta-testing its new social network paid off – and what they learned by visiting schools, libraries and literary organizations across the country to speak with creative teenagers.

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About Engauge

Engauge is a full-service marketing agency for the digital and social age. We help grow our clients' businesses by leveraging creativity and technology to connect brands and consumers through the most relevant content and channels. The proliferation of content and channel opportunities for both consumers and brands has forever changed the communications landscape. But - what haven't changed are the fundamentals of marketing: The ability to richly understand a consumer, to derive a thoughtful insight, and to create a big idea. For years, Engauge has helped lead its clients by staying true to those fundamentals, while focusing on talent, technology, innovation and building a dynamic range of capabilities - from the tried and true, to social, mobile and whatever's next. Today's marketing is assuredly more complex, but to us the premise is still quite simple: Listen to the client, listen to the consumer, and deliver big ideas at the right time and place. And, most importantly, engauge.