Notably absent from JupiterResearch’s E-mail Marketing Buyer’s Guide this year was Epsilon’s Interactive Services Group, the e-mail service provider unit of Epsilon.
Industry rumor has it that there was infighting at Epsilon over which of its two e-mail platforms it would submit to JupiterResearch for evaluation, and as a result, Epsilon asked not to be ranked this year.
Vendors generally eagerly participate in analysts’ reports such as Jupiter’s e-mail marketing buyer’s guide because no company gets ranked all that badly, and getting a high ranking gives the top vendors a chance to publicize their good standing.
Scott Bauman, a spokesman for Epsilon, denied rumors that Epsilon’s absence from Jupiter’s report was the result of infighting.
Bauman then e-mailed a statement attributed to Ragy Thomas, president of Epsilon’s Interactive Services Group: “We informed David Daniels and JupiterResearch in early August that Epsilon would not participate because we were required to select only one of our two market-leading platforms for review. Moreover, because development was already underway on our next-generation platform, we thought it best to focus on our upcoming release slated for 2007.”
Being unable to participate in Jupiter’s 2006 e-mail buying guide is another piece of bad news in an overall bad year for Epsilon’s Interactive Services Group
The company experienced an exodus of DoubleClick employees after it acquired DoubleClick’s e-mail unit for $90 million early this year. It is also well known throughout the industry that culture clash between executives at Epsilon acquisition DoubleClick E-mail and the company’s previous e-mail acquisition, Bigfoot Interactive, have made the marriage a rocky one.
In September, executives from Epsilon’s parent company, Alliance Data Systems, fired Epsilon Interactive’s CEO, Al DiGuido, and several others.
Jupiter’s Daniels did not respond to a request for an interview.
