Responsys chose MKTG as its ticker, which told investors exactly what it sold. The San Bruno company ran email campaigns for big consumer brands. Its software sent millions of messages, tailored each one to the reader and tracked every open and click. By its 2011 IPO, marketers were moving budgets from print and TV to the inbox and the phone, and they wanted one system to run it all.

Email at Industrial Scale

Responsys was founded in 1998, early in the age of email marketing. Most companies then blasted the same message to everyone. Responsys bet that marketers would pay for tools to target and time each message, and to coordinate email with texts, social posts and display ads. It sold its software as a hosted service. In 2010 it booked $94 million in sales.

Priced High, Sold Higher

Responsys priced its IPO at $12 a share in April 2011, above its expected range of $8.50 to $10. It listed on Nasdaq as MKTG and rose about 28 percent on its first day. Large software makers were racing to build marketing clouds. In December 2013 Oracle agreed to buy Responsys for about $1.5 billion, and the deal closed in early 2014.

Cover: The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation, Jean Honoré Fragonard. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a letter being read (the marketing message).