Extole Continues to Expand Social Marketing Footprint with Record Growth in 2011
Harnessing the Power of Consumer-to-Consumer Social Marketing, Extole Creates a New, High-Value Marketing Channel for Brands and Agencies
San Francisco, CA, Jan. 31, 2012 – Extole (www.extole.com), the leading Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) Social Marketing Platform, continues to assert itself as a major force in the social marketing space, today announcing record growth for 2011 across revenue, new customer acquisition, product development, strategic hires, and domestic expansion. The year marks a milestone for Extole’s SaaS-based C2C social marketing platform, having launched social marketing programs for over 200 leading brands and agencies.
“With consumer online sharing increasing every day, brands can now tap into a new high-value marketing channel based on the power of C2C dialogues. There is an enormous opportunity for marketers to foster loyal social advocates who promote the brand for them,” said Brad Klaus, CEO of Extole. “Extole’s explosive growth is based on our ability to harness the power of social advocates to help brands drive measurable social marketing results.”
Extole closes 2011 with a year-over-year revenue increase of 400 percent and over 200 customers, increasing the customer base by three times over the previous year. New customer additions include companies such as AAA, Zazzle, J. Hilburn, RocketLawyer, SquareTrade, and Seamless.
“Our members are passionate about Seamless and the value it brings to their daily lives,” said Ryan Scott, VP, Marketing at Seamless, the nation’s most trusted and comprehensive source of local restaurant information and food ordering capabilities. “The Extole platform enables us to tap into that passion and encourage our customer advocates to share Seamless with their friends.”
In the past 12 months Extole has made significant investments in development of its industry-leading C2C Social Marketing platform, delivering applications for social referrals, social promotions (including social coupons, sweepstakes and group buying), and social testimonials – all delivered on a unified, powerful social marketing platform with deep social analytics. At the same time, Extole doubled its number of employees and made several strategic hires, including the addition of chief financial officer, chief revenue officer, chief technology officer, VP of marketing, general counsel, and VP and general manager of the company’s newly opened New York office.
Extole powers social referral programs and promotions for more than 200 brands and agencies. Key industries for the company include retail, eCommerce, media, technology, entertainment and automotive among others.
About Seamless
Seamless is the most trusted and comprehensive source for local restaurant information and food ordering. The company has made finding and ordering food from local restaurant menus fun and easy for more than one million members and many of the world’s largest companies. Through Seamless.com, MenuPages.com, and mobile applications for the iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, the company offers access to over 40,000 menus, 200,000 user-generated ratings and reviews, and exclusive discounts from restaurants in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, London, and other US cities. Seamless will facilitate more than $400 million in food orders from its 8,000+ network restaurant partners in 2011. Seamless is an independent, privately held company.
About Extole
Extole is the leading Consumer-to-Consumer Social Marketing Platform, enabling brands and agencies to turn their customers into social advocates. Extole powers social referral programs, promotions, testimonials, and robust social analytics for more than 200 brands, helping them grow sales, increase traffic and awareness and gain critical insights. Customers include AAA, Shutterfly, Kate Spade New York, J. Hilburn, New York Times, and SkyMall. Extole is a privately held company based in San Francisco, California. For more information, please visit www.extole.com
