Blocks’ Martech and Adtech Convergence

Revolutionizing Customer Engagement with a New CDP and Data Stack

In the rapidly evolving world of digital marketing, the lines between marketing technology (martech) and advertising technology (adtech) are blurring, creating unprecedented opportunities for brands to deliver seamless, data-driven customer experiences. At the forefront of this transformation is Block, the parent company of Afterpay, which is leveraging its innovative martech and adtech strategies to redefine how brands connect with consumers. By building a customer data platform (CDP) on Snowflake, utilizing Hightouch for reverse ETL to integrate with platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and MailChimp, and harnessing AI for hyper-personalized marketing, Block is setting a new standard for commerce media and customer engagement.

### The Convergence of Martech and Adtech at Block

Historically, martech and adtech served distinct purposes. Martech focused on managing customer relationships, automating campaigns, and optimizing engagement through tools like customer relationship management (CRM) systems and email marketing platforms. Adtech, on the other hand, centered on delivering targeted advertisements across digital channels, often through programmatic platforms like demand-side platforms (DSPs). However, with the shift toward first-party data and the deprecation of third-party cookies, these ecosystems are converging to create a unified approach to customer engagement. Block is capitalizing on this trend through its Afterpay Media Network and martech offerings, led by Andrew Gilbert and Bree Graham, respectively.

**Bree Graham’s Martech Vision**: As the leader of Afterpay’s martech offering, Bree Graham focuses on building tools to nurture customer relationships and deliver personalized marketing experiences. Her work likely involves managing customer data platforms (CDPs), marketing automation tools, and analytics to drive mid- and lower-funnel activities like engagement, conversion, and retention. By leveraging Afterpay’s rich first-party data—such as purchase history and consumer preferences—Graham’s martech stack enables merchants to craft tailored campaigns that resonate with Afterpay’s younger, tech-savvy audience.

**Andrew Gilbert’s Adtech Leadership**: Andrew Gilbert, VP of Advertising Ecosystem for Australia and New Zealand, spearheads the Afterpay Media Network, a commerce media platform powered by Yahoo DSP. This network uses transaction-level data to create detailed audience profiles, enabling brands to deliver targeted ads across online and offline channels. Unlike traditional retail media, which focuses on single retailers, Afterpay’s approach spans multiple merchants, supporting full-funnel advertising from brand awareness to conversions.

The synergy between Graham’s martech tools and Gilbert’s adtech platform lies in their shared reliance on first-party data. This convergence allows Block to create cohesive customer journeys, where insights from martech campaigns inform adtech strategies, and vice versa, ensuring consistent messaging across owned and paid channels.

### Block’s New CDP and Data Stack: A Game-Changer

Central to Blocks’ strategy is the development of a customer data platform (CDP) built on Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud, a powerful data warehouse that enables seamless data integration and analytics. This CDP serves as a “single source of truth,” unifying customer data from various touchpoints—such as Afterpay’s BNPL transactions, website interactions, and app usage—into robust customer profiles. By centralizing data, Blocks empowers its marketing and advertising teams to deliver personalized experiences at scale while maintaining privacy compliance in a cookieless world.

To activate this data across martech and adtech ecosystems, Block partners with Hightouch, a leading reverse ETL (extract, transform, load) platform. Hightouch enables Block to sync customer data from Snowflake to over 200 downstream tools, including Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and MailChimp, in real time. This integration streamlines campaign execution by:

- **Powering Social Media Advertising**: Hightouch syncs audience segments from Snowflake to Facebook Ads and Google Ads, enabling Block to deliver hyper-targeted ads based on real-time customer behavior, such as recent purchases or browsing activity. For example, a retailer can use Afterpay’s data to target ads for complementary products to users who recently bought fashion items, enhancing relevance and conversion rates.

- **Enhancing Email Marketing**: By connecting Snowflake to MailChimp via Hightouch, Block can automate personalized email campaigns, such as abandoned cart reminders or product recommendations, tailored to individual customer profiles. This ensures that marketing messages align with ad campaigns, creating a seamless customer experience.

- **Optimizing Campaign Performance**: Hightouch’s no-code audience builder allows marketers to create, test, and refine audience segments without relying on engineering resources, enabling rapid campaign deployment and A/B testing to optimize performance across channels.

This modern data stack, anchored by Snowflake and Hightouch, eliminates data silos and enables Block to scale personalized marketing and advertising efforts efficiently. As noted in industry insights, centralized data platforms like Snowflake enhance collaboration between marketing and advertising teams, ensuring consistent messaging and advanced analytics for campaign optimization.

### AI-Powered Personalization: The Future of Customer Engagement

A key pillar of Block’s martech and adtech strategy is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) for hyper-personalization. AI-driven tools analyze vast amounts of first-party data to uncover patterns and predict customer behavior, enabling Block to deliver tailored experiences at every touchpoint. Key applications include:

- **Content Personalization**: Generative AI creates customized ad creatives, email content, and in-app messages that resonate with specific audience segments. For instance, AI can generate dynamic email copy for MailChimp campaigns or optimize ad visuals for Facebook Ads based on user preferences.

- **Real-Time Campaign Optimization**: AI models process real-time data from Snowflake to adjust ad bids on platforms like Google Ads, ensuring cost-effective campaigns. Similarly, AI-powered segmentation in Hightouch enables Block to deliver same-session personalization, such as updating website content with relevant offers based on a user’s current browsing behavior.

- **Predictive Analytics**: AI analyzes historical and real-time data to recommend next-best actions, such as triggering personalized product recommendations or suppressing ads for customers unlikely to convert, optimizing ad spend and enhancing customer loyalty.

By embedding AI into its CDP and data stack, Block ensures that personalization is not only precise but also scalable, meeting the expectations of modern consumers who demand relevant, timely interactions.

### Where Martech and Adtech Intersect

The intersection of Graham’s martech efforts and Gilbert’s adtech initiatives is where Block’s strategy truly shines. Their shared reliance on first-party data, centralized through Snowflake, enables a unified customer view that powers both owned and paid channels. For example:

- A customer who browses fashion items on Afterpay’s app might receive a personalized email (via MailChimp) with a discount code, orchestrated by Graham’s martech tools.

- Simultaneously, Gilbert’s Media Network could use the same browsing data to serve a targeted ad (via Facebook Ads or Google Ads) for a complementary product, reinforcing the message across channels.

This synergy creates a cohesive customer journey, driving engagement and conversions while maintaining privacy compliance. The use of Hightouch to sync data to multiple platforms ensures that these efforts are executed in real time, maximizing relevance and impact.

### The Road Ahead for Block

Blocks’ innovative approach to martech and adtech convergence, powered by a Snowflake-based CDP, Hightouch integrations, and AI-driven personalization, positions it as a leader in commerce media. By breaking down silos between marketing and advertising, Blocks enables brands to deliver seamless, data-driven experiences that resonate with younger audiences. As privacy regulations evolve and consumer expectations for personalization grow, Block’s modern data stack and AI capabilities will continue to drive loyalty, engagement, and revenue growth.

For brands looking to stay ahead in 2025, Block’s strategy offers a blueprint: invest in a centralized data platform, leverage reverse ETL for seamless integrations, and harness AI to deliver personalized experiences at scale. As the martech and adtech landscapes continue to converge, Blocks is paving the way for a new era of customer-centric marketing.