MAM
CleverTap acquires Patch to empower in-app calling for mobile-first businesses
Mumbai: User engagement and retention cloud CleverTap has completed the acquisition of Patch, a technology that enables businesses to brand and embed communication channels — including in-app voice, chat, and push notifications — directly into consumer apps. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Patch is designed to provide seamless, contextual, and secure communications between companies and consumers. Its in-app calling makes two-way communication privacy-compliant as there is no need to disclose caller or receiver telephone numbers or personal data.
“The acquisition is the first in CleverTap’s eight-year history and marks an important milestone in its ongoing innovation journey of expanding its capabilities. It will elevate the end-customer experience and empower brands and businesses globally to communicate with millions of their customers seamlessly,” stated CleverTap’s chief growth officer Vikrant Chowdhary.
“Patch acquisition is strategic and significant because it positions CleverTap as the first and only marketing and retention platform to offer in-app telephony capabilities,” he added.
Currently, all companies that offer apps are forced to use unverified phone numbers to communicate with their customers and update them on urgent information such as delivery status or recent credit card charges. Predictably, these phone calls, which are delivered outside of the app experience, neither carry transactional context nor recognisable phone numbers or caller ID and often fuel customer anxiety and mistrust. Often dismissed as spam by consumers, the calls regularly go unanswered.
The outcome is a poor customer experience for the consumer and a loss of revenue for brands and businesses that are unable to connect with them at critical stages in the journey. “For consumers, knowing who is calling and understanding the context from within the app increases trust and drives digital interactions and transactions,” noted Chowdhary. “As customers engage more frequently or deeply, brands and businesses also benefit because they reduce friction and increase the opportunities to generate revenues.”
It’s also the first time these capabilities are being offered to mobile-first brands and businesses across the globe. “Having in-app voice capabilities as a part of the CleverTap Retention Cloud is a game-changer for digital brands. It enables a trusted, two-way conversation between companies and their customers with context, security, and speedy resolution or assistance,” said CleverTap co-founder and chief product officer Anand Jain.
Commenting on the benefits to stakeholders, Jain added, “This is a new and critical addition to the engagement toolkit of email, push notifications, SMS, and WhatsApp that growth marketers and businesses must harness to improve communications and drive results. It’s all about evolving the in-app experience to increase customer satisfaction, reduce friction, and ultimately help our customers grow customer retention and LTV.”
MAM
WPP appoints Estée Lauder’s Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer
Former Estée Lauder executive to lead operations, technology and culture overhaul under WPP’s three-year growth plan
LONDON: WPP has appointed Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer in a newly created role tasked with delivering the group’s Elevate28 strategy.
Choueiri joins from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including the “One ELC” operating model and major upgrades to enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities. She also led the redesign of enterprise technology teams and served on the company’s AI taskforce, driving AI strategy, adoption and value realisation across the business.
At WPP, she will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operating model behind Elevate28, the company’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026. She will lead efforts to improve innovation, efficiency and integration across WPP’s client offerings, with a focus on delivering agile, outcome-driven solutions and measurable growth.
Choueiri will oversee organisational transformation across the group, working closely with product and enterprise technology teams to deploy AI, data and technology to build new capabilities and improve operational performance. She will also work with the people function to embed cultural change, strengthen an agile performance mindset and support talent development across the organisation.
Before joining Estée Lauder, she held senior roles across consulting and digital agencies, including at Accenture, Masaï (a Bain & Company spin-off), and Kearney, with experience spanning strategy, data and digital marketing transformation.
Cindy Rose, chief executive officer of WPP, said Choueiri brings a strong track record of leading large-scale transformation across operations, technology and culture, adding that her appointment will help accelerate the group’s next phase of growth under Elevate28.
Choueiri said WPP’s strategy represents an ambitious opportunity to reshape how the company operates and delivers for clients, adding that she looks forward to building integrated solutions and fostering a culture of innovation and change.
She will be based in New York and will join WPP’s executive committee.
