On Monday, the Democrats said they will use Philadelphia-based Curalate to weed through social-media images and videos posted from the convention, and link them to cause-related websites for Democrats and favorite groups such as Planned Parenthood.
Apu Gupta, CEO of the firm, which employs 65 at its Walnut Street headquarters, and more in New York and Seattle, said with images replacing text in advertising, "what applies to products will begin to apply to politics."
He promised Curalate will help the Democrats "capture [social media] content and use it to connect people to information about the Democratic Party in ways you've never seen before" so they can "tell stories to millions."
Gupta also declined to say whether Curalate is getting paid for its services or donating them as an "in-kind contribution." The firm counts Nordstrom's, Crate & Barrel, Urban Outfitters, and hundreds more retailers as customers.
Comcast, also based in Philadelphia, plans to announce its own tech contributions for the convention on Tuesday, DNC staff told me. AT&T has promised to beef up its Philadelphia wireless network for the convention. Microsoft and Google are also "official" technology providers to the show, which is expected to nominate former Secretary of State, U.S. Sen., and First Lady Hillary Clinton for president.
Curalate's work "is cutting-edge video marketing, and pretty impressive technology," said Jordan Lieberman, president for politics and public affairs at Audience Partners, a Fort Washington-based, Republican-founded firm whose software targets political advertising for candidates from both parties.
"I think they will be rallying the true believers," Lieberman added. "Not a lot of undecided voters will be watching the DNC. But there are a lot of soft Democrats who need convincing."
"Our goal is to make this the most interactive and innovative convention ever," and to "expand engagement" with voters outside the convention, Andrew Binns, the Democratic National Convention's chief innovation officer, said Monday.
Does this mean Curalate backs Clinton over Republican Donald Trump?
It's just business, Curalate says.
"We reached out to the Republican convention with a similar idea, but never heard back," Curalate strategy and operations chief, Luke Butler, told me.
IP Business Sold
Thomson Reuters, the U.K.-based data-publishing-news conglomerate, says it has agreed to sell its 3,400-employee, Philadelphia-based Intellectual Property & Science business, and its trademark, patent, copyright, and brand information businesses at 75 offices in 40 countries, for $3.55 billion "in cash," to Onex Partners, Toronto, and Baring Private Equity Asia.No word yet on the future role for Vin Caraher, who has headed IP&S since 2004, or other Philadelphia managers.
IP&S, a group of businesses centered on the old University City-based academic-research aggregator, the Institute for Scientific Information, is based in the former SmithKline plant at 15th and Spring Garden.
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