• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, March 4, 2015

Kenshoo and Marin are separately forcing brands to rethink how to use advertising and media. Each company this week independently announced the creation of a business model that integrates data from mobile application installs and attribution into their platforms. The platforms are built from search engine marketing, combining several services into one.

Marin Software on Wednesday will roll out a feature that allows advertisers to track mobile app installations and activity to search, display and social ad campaigns. By partnering with AppsFlyer and Kochava, Marin customers will identify the influence of online ads on mobile app use. The increase in visibility gives advertisers another method to optimize digital marketing campaigns and improve mobile app engagement and revenue. 

Vilma Grosberga, senior search manager at Arena Media, a Havas Media Group company, calls the move "significant" because companies can now drive desktop traffic as well as App installs from the same advertisement. 

Partnering with mobile app analytics providers gives advertisers working with Marin better optimization tools to increase visibility and attribution modeling required to more closely integrate mobile marketing campaigns.

Mobile apps will generate $77 billion in revenue worldwide by 2017, per Gartner Research. Understanding the value search, display and social marketing play in driving app installations and consumer engagement becomes vital to increasing return on campaign investments.

Kenshoo also continues to invest in mobile services. At Mobile World Congress 2015, Kenshoo introduced the Infinity Suite, moving from an ad-tech solutions provider to an enterprise marketing software suite that allows marketers to run campaigns from mobile to display alongside search and social. Now brands and agencies can leverage intent and interaction data and portfolio bidding algorithms across all channels and devices.

In September 2014, Kenshoo acquired Adquant, a platform for mobile app and gaming advertisers on social media. Through a partnership announced Tuesday with AppNexus, Kenshoo clients can combine search and social data across display and in-app placements on exchanges like MoPub, Nexage, and other select inventory sources.