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"FORTUNE &amp;#8212; David Brussin doesn&amp;#8217;t want to reinvent marketing. He just wants to make it easier.\nBrussin, 38, already had\u00A0the launch of three\u00A0marketing-focused technology companies under his belt when big data analytics began to rise in popularity among technologists. The concept promised a more sophisticated way to use and interpret data, and gave Brussin a new tool to help address the question\u00A0that has nagged him\u00A0for nearly two decades: Why is it so hard for marketers to reach customers online?\n\u201CThe promise everyone was excited about really went undelivered. Marketers told stories that illuminated their frustration,\u201D Brussin says. \u201CA senior executive at a big multi-channel retailer said they could print and ship signs and merchandise for physical stores, set themselves up for a big campaign much faster and less expensive than they could change their website.&amp;#8221;\nIn January 2008, Brussin and David Bookspan formed Monetate in Conshohocken, Penn., just outside Philadelphia&amp;#8217;s city limits. The young company &amp;#8212; which provides\u00A0testing, targeting, and personalization for the e-commerce efforts of major retailers\u00A0&amp;#8212; had just one employee but the backing of the venture capital firm First Round and one of its seven partners,\u00A0Josh Kopelman. By March, Monetate added two more employees, and it stayed that way for most of the rest of the year.\nMORE:\u00A0With mobile surveys, market research gets a makeover\nToday, Monetate packs\u00A0220 casually dressed employees into a converted warehouse\u00A0with high ceilings, exposed ducts and pipes, zero offices, and a great deal of standing desks. In the lounge,\u00A0there&amp;#8217;s a large television for watching Phillies games, among other things. At 5 p.m. every Thursday, the entire staff meets for a roundtable discussion &amp;#8212; over pizza and beer, of course &amp;#8212;\u00A0about what was accomplished that week. It&amp;#8217;s a tradition that began when Monetate&amp;#8217;s\u00A0staff could be counted on one hand, and one that Brussin isn&amp;#8217;t particularly interested in discarding.\n\u201COur team has a great personality as a group,&amp;#8221; he says. &amp;#8220;We respect ourselves, our colleagues, our customers, our competitors. It shines through with how we interact with each other.&amp;#8221;\n\nWhatever it is, it&amp;#8217;s working. Well-funded (more than $46 million to date) and expanding\u00A0quickly, Monetate is attracting tech talent from around the region.\u00A0David Berton is a software\u00A0engineer from\u00A0Roebling, N.J., which lies about halfway between New York City and Philadelphia. He says he chose to work at Monetate because of the company&amp;#8217;s culture and assemblage of talent.\n\u201CEveryone goes to work and tries to do their best, and that\u2019s here as much as anywhere,&amp;#8221; Berton, 41, says. &amp;#8220;But what\u2019s unique is that everyone truly excels at what they do. There is a high level of confidence. And it\u2019s not really a buttoned-up place to come to work\u00A0&amp;#8212;\u00A0the reason is to establish a certain level of comfort.\u201D\nMORE:\u00A0In marketing, embracing a world where data rules\nBrussin says the\u00A0relaxed atmosphere is also an attraction for Monetate&amp;#8217;s clients &amp;#8212; among them are Patagonia, Best Buy \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tbby\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, Macy\u2019s \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tm\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, QVC \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tlinta\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, The Sports Authority, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tgmcr\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, and The North Face \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\torcl\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t.\nCal Bouchard, director of e-commerce at The North Face, said his company signed\u00A0on in 2012 to refine how it presented\u00A0products to customers on its website. Monetate added geotargeting\u00A0so that when it&amp;#8217;s snowing in Boston and a customer there visits thenorthface.com, it will display to them boots and heavy coats (and simultaneously for a customer in warm and sunny San Francisco display light outerwear and hiking boots). It also\u00A0implemented\u00A0A/B testing capability\u00A0for components on the page (such the color of the &amp;#8220;add to cart&amp;#8221; button).\n&amp;#8220;The better customer experience is really an interactive one,&amp;#8221; Bouchard says. &amp;#8220;How online shopping and e-commerce has evolved,\u00A0it\u2019s very iterative. The [work]\u00A0that Monetate does allows us to keep up with our changing customer.\u00A0We give them a better customer experience when we\u2019re able to understand what they\u2019re browsing. We then serve them up another product they might be interested in. That\u2019s powerful.\u201D\nMORE:\u00A0Apple&amp;#8217;s iBeacon signals turning point for mobile engagement\nThe market in which Monetate operates is quite crowded. In addition to\u00A0a long list of startups (from Act-On to Vocus), Monetate is competing with some of technology&amp;#8217;s largest operators: Salesforce (though ExactTarget and Pardot) \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCRM\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, Adobe (Campaign) \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tADBE\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, Oracle (Eloqua) \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\torcl\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, even IBM \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tibm\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t. All mirror the industry&amp;#8217;s\u00A0move to an integrated, cloud-based, automated software-as-a-service system; all are competing for a piece of\u00A0a digital ad spend estimated to reach\u00A0$137 billion worldwide this year &amp;#8212; an increase of almost 15% from 2013, according to eMarketer.\nBrussin doesn&amp;#8217;t seem\u00A0overly concerned about the fight ahead. &amp;#8220;When I think about where market is today &amp;#8230; it&amp;#8217;s still in broadcast mode,&amp;#8221; he said. &amp;#8220;That difference is stark, kind of shocking, and disturbing to the customer. Hearing from brands [rather than having a conversation], it\u00A0kind of feels impersonal and robotic. Marketers have realized they have to fundamentally change their approach to marketing. The challenge is that marketers are still stuck with their own tools. What they really have is a broadcast tool set. They know their brands have to change to survive and thrive.&amp;#8221;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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