Brandwatch Named As a Leader in The 2020 Forrester Wave for Social Listening Platforms
A little over two years ago, Brandwatch made a big, industry-changing decision. We made a strategic move that was well publicized, and well received as a “logical match.” That move, of course, was the merger between Brandwatch and Crimson Hexagon.
Before we announced the merger publicly in early October 2018, the respective product and engineering teams from both companies conducted months of due diligence. It was one of those stretches of time where you didn’t know exactly what you were feeling. There was excitement. There was anxiety. Could we really pull off this huge product integration? Ultimately, it came down to this: we found that we weren’t just a “logical match,” on paper, but a great one in real life; technology, vision, culture all lined up beautifully. We genuinely believed that together we could create something totally unique, which neither company could do alone. We backed ourselves as a team to get the job done on time, and in a way that kept the needs of our customers at the heart of every choice we made.
We believe our position as a leader is a massive validation for taking on this epic journey. We took two, serious market-leading products and integrated them while avoiding the creation of a disastrous “frankenproduct” (photographs of early whiteboard sessions would genuinely show this listed under “risks”!). Two years later, we have upgraded over 2,000 of the world’s most admirable brands and agencies to our new Consumer Research platform.
Our CEO, Giles Palmer, puts it very simply: “Most mergers don’t work out. This one definitely has.” He’s absolutely right. We’re one company, with one vision, moving in unison with some kick-ass products in our arsenal. We’re proud of them, our work, and each other. And, even though our people are separated by oceans and lockdown restrictions, we’re going to celebrate this.
The milestone of being named a leader in the 2020 Forrester Wave is, in our opinion, such a wonderful bookend to a job well done. I couldn’t be prouder of the cross functional teams that brought our vision to life.
With the merger behind us, now comes the fun part. Our product and research and development teams will now have a luxury that they haven’t experienced in roughly two years; they can focus solely on innovation. Now our whole R&D engine, the largest in the industry, will be focused on innovating to meet the needs of our clients and continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible within digital consumer intelligence. All this building on a platform with unmatched data, A.I. and speed.
As an analyst and a technologist, this is what gets me out of bed in the morning. We’ll take a moment to celebrate a job well done, but my eyes are fixed firmly on the future, and I can’t wait to show you where we’re going next.
