• Kvantum, Inc. specializes in artificial intelligence-based consumer insights and marketing performance analytics.
• Kvantum’s technology can measure the effects of marketing tactics in a designated geographic region, leading to “smart, data-driven marketing decisions” for Yum!-owned brands.

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Yum! Brands, parent company of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC, has agreed to purchase Kvantum, Inc., a company specializing in artificial intelligence-based consumer insights and marketing performance analytics, according to a recent announcement.

Yum! Brands wants to use Kvantum’s technology to “enhance their ability to apply powerful consumer insights and data analytics to drive calendar and marketing spend optimization,” the company said in a press release.

Founded in 2012 by CEO Shilpi Sharma and Chief Technology Officer Harpreet Singh, Kvantum develops and deploys algorithms and artificial intelligence models to help brands understand consumer behavior and make informed media and calendar decisions. It combines machine learning and econometric modeling into its Marketing Performance Analytics Platform in a seamless manner.

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According to the press release, Kvantum’s proprietary technology can measure the effects of marketing tactics in a designated geographic region across owned, paid and earned channels. Kvantum already uses the latest modern marketing principles to tailor its services and technologies to support Yum!’s brands in several international markets.

“Technology strategies that elevate the customer and employee experience and lead to smart, data-driven marketing decisions are critical to keeping our brands R.E.D. (relevant, easy to access and distinctive) and delivering growth for our franchisees and shareholders,” said David Gibbs, CEO of Yum! Brands. “We’re excited about the opportunity this acquisition presents and the potential to scale Kvantum’s proven technologies across our system to strengthen our data and advanced analytics capabilities and elevate our world-class marketing competencies globally.”

Yum! Brands plans to combine Kvantum’s AI and machine-learning approach to understanding human behavior with the unique skill sets of anthropologists and sociologists at Collider Lab, a culture-based consumer insights and marketing strategy consultancy that Yum! acquired in 2015. Kvantum’s and Collider Lab’s combined methodologies are expected to yield even deeper consumer and brand insights and help advance the Company’s R.E.D. Marketing strategies around the world.