With four acquisitions in 18 months, IDG Communications completes its transformation
After playing a key role in every major milestone, announcement, and development in modern technology since 1964, IDG Communications, Inc., the global leader in technology media, data, and marketing services, today announced that the company has rebranded as Foundry. The announcement marks the company’s transformation from legacy media network to integrated marketing technology (MarTech) and data provider.
As Foundry, the company will pair large-scale first-party data from its leading portfolio of editorial brands with a combination of acquired and home-grown marketing technologies.
‘’We set out to deliver on a strategy that re-invents our business for a new era in technology marketing where data and martech are engineered to work seamlessly together, powered by our global ecosystem of editorial brands,” said Kumaran Ramanathan, President of the newly named Foundry. “However, to pivot, to reinvent you sometimes have to turn away from the very things that previously defined you and the long-standing equity in our name, synonymous as one of the world’s biggest media companies ultimately limits our ambition and ability to be identified as a marketing technology powerhouse.’’
The company has historically been recognized as the technology sector’s most international, credible, trustworthy, and relevant publisher, featuring award-winning brands such as CIO, ChannelWorld, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, MacWorld, Network World, PCWorld and TechHive. Its award-winning editorial content is recognized around the world by millions of business and technology executives and enthusiasts as a trusted resource of technical insights, thought leadership, product reviews and more. The company’s relationships with the world’s most important tech decision-makers have also generated a perpetual stream of global, first-party data, with access to more than 200 million individuals and global behavioral insights that are authenticated, timely and contextually relevant.
To activate that unparalleled data inside and outside of Foundry’s owned and operated ecosystem, the company – which was acquired by Blackstone last year to help them invest in additional opportunities for ongoing growth across its technology and product portfolio – has also expanded its technology business, developing new marketing technology and data via four acquisitions over the last 18 months alone. These acquisitions demonstrate the company’s commitment to building best-in-class solutions fueled by first-party relationships. The Foundry MarTech stack is comprised of ABM (Account Based Marketing), marketing intelligence solutions, a B2B sales and marketing data intent platform, and consistent measurement and analytics – all powered by Foundry’s dataset and iconic tech editorial-branded sites.
“We meet with tech companies, marketers, sellers and agencies every day, and in every market around the world,” said Jason Tenenbown, Chief Strategy Officer of Foundry. “What we’ve found is a growing disconnect between sales pipelines and marketing funnels. Our strategy has been to leverage our proprietary data with proprietary marketing technologies to bridge that gap, creating an outcomes-based set of products and services that satisfy the needs of our clients.”
Foundry represents an interconnected ecosystem of media, technology and data. By leveraging its first-party data, Foundry will help navigate the entire tech buyer journey – everything from driving awareness and understanding intent signals, to increasing engagement and conversion. The company will also help technology marketers and agencies drive awareness and achieve their objectives by engineering the right combination of media solutions – whether that involves advertising, demand generation, content, research, or events.
“For years, IDG has been the top publisher in the B2B tech world,” said Robyn McRae, Global VP of Paid Media and Marketing Automation, IBM. “As Foundry, we’re excited to see the ways the company will elevate to new heights and look forward to seeing what lies ahead in the coming months and years.”
“No one else has first-party media relationships integrated with marketing technologies to help create an ecosystem that resolves customer pain points,” added Ramanathan. “With the rebrand of IDG as Foundry we are establishing ourselves as a company that generates and innovates with data. While the new brand marks the completion of a major milestone in our corporate transformation, we will not stop innovating and building upon our recent success.”
The new Foundry brand strategy and visual identity was created in-house by the company’s creative team with collaboration from UK based consultant Emma Booty.