Ogilvy & Mather acquires stake in Istropolitana Group

June 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned operating company Ogilvy & Mather has acquired a minority stake in Communication Group, A.S., the holding company for the Istropolitana group of companies, in the Slovak Republic.

Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Bratislava, Istropolitana is a full service advertising agency comprising a number of separate businesses. The group employs 95 people and major clients include Heineken, Slovak Telecom and VUB Banka.

Istropolitana’s consolidated unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were €4.509 million, with gross assets of €3.672 million.

UK, London & Slovak Republic, Bratislava

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McCann Worldgroup acquires Lakestar Medi

June 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet
McCann Worldgroup, part of Interpublic Group has completed the acquisition of independent digital marketing agency Lakestar Media.

The acquisition has been undertaken to enhance McCann Worldgroup’s SEO capability across all of its operating companies in the UK.

Lakestar was founded five years ago by current Head of Sales Demetrious Loizou. Chief Executive Neil McKay joined the company in 2008 and has played a leading role growing the organisation to its present size where it now employs 50 colleagues. The agency specialises in digital marketing and has built a core strength around SEO.

Following the acquisition, Lakestar Media, which has offices in London and Manchester will be operated and managed by McCann Manchester and the deal will enhance McCann Worldgroup’s digital offering in the UK. Lakestar will continue to operate its own client base as well as working alongside McCann Worldgroup companies to deliver an enhanced SEO offering to the client base.

The deal is the latest in series of acquisitions by both McCann Worldgroup and McCann Manchester. Two years ago McCann Manchester acquired research, NPD and innovation consultancy Blue Banana. Last year McCann Worldgroup acquired All of Us and Meteorite to further strengthen McCann Worldgroup’s offering in the UK.

At the present time, Lakestar will continue to operate from its London offices and new premises in Manchester and will be working closely with all McCann Worldgroup companies in the UK to deliver highly collaborative digital solutions to clients.

Neil McKay will continue to run Lakestar following the acquisition and the current management team will remain in place. Sue Little, Chief Executive of McCann Manchester and Martin Jackson, CFO of McCann Worldgroup UK will join the board of Lakestar to manage the integration and subsequent development of the company within McCann Worldgroup.

According to Sue Little, Chief Executive of McCann Manchester, “The completion of this deal significantly enhances our SEO offering and makes our overall integrated digital offering incredibly strong. We’ve been wanting to grow our SEO offering for some time and we’ve been looking for a potential partner for well over a year. I’m delighted to be able to welcome Neil and the Lakestar team into the McCann group of companies and believe the acquisition represents an incredibly exciting opportunity for our clients.

Commenting on the acquisition, Gustavo Martinez, President of McCann Worldgroup Europe said, “The successful conclusion of this acquisition further strengthens an already powerful digital offering from McCann in the UK. By acquiring an SEO specialist of this scale and experience it means our UK operations can offer clients operating nationally and internationally a truly integrated digital solution. We believe this acquisition has the potential to drive further digital growth in the UK and potentially beyond.”

UK, Manchester, Lancashire

 

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CatchFree has acquired customer analytics platform KISSinsights

June 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

CatchFree, a free online service for comparing apps based on detailed customer feedback, has acquired KISSinsights from KISSmetrics, a customer analytics platform.

KISSinsights is a micro-surveying tool that enables online businesses to easily ask website users questions as they are making decisions, the crucial point at which they are likely to remember their motivation for making the decisions.

KISSmetrics and CatchFree CEO Sean Ellis have long collaborated in the survey space, launching in 2009 a free customer development survey together on Survey.io that has helped thousands of companies identify and understand their most passionate customers.

“Understanding customer feedback and motivation is a powerful way to drive breakthrough ideas for improving customer acquisition, conversion and retention rates,” said Ellis. “Several months ago we discovered that publishers on CatchFree were getting more value from the insights we uncovered than the traffic we could send. With requests for a more elegant way to collect feedback and the ability to ask custom questions, it became clear that we needed something like KISSinsights.”

USA, Newport Beach, CA

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Syncapse to acquire Clickable

June 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Syncapse, the social performance management platform is to acquire Clickable, a social and search advertising management and intelligence platform based in New York City. Syncapse is the social marketing engine for over 100 global brands including Amway, L’Oréal, Anheuser-Busch InBev, RIM, Diageo.

Clickable’s social and search advertising management functionality will become a key addition to Syncapse’s suite, which includes social media publishing, moderation, compliance, multi-channel data management, and measurement intelligence products. The result is a fully integrated SaaS solution, forging paid, earned, and owned into the most powerful Social Performance Management platform available.

As part of the acquisition, Dave Fall, Clickable’s Chief Operating Officer and former product executive from DoubleClick and Google, will join Syncapse as Chief Product Officer. Sandeep Sahi, former engineering leader from Clickable and Microsoft, will also join Syncapse as Senior Vice President of Engineering, and Managing Director of India operations. David Kidder, Clickable’s co-founder and Chief Executive, and New York Times best-selling author, will continue as a strategic advisor to Syncapse.

This strategic expansion bolsters Syncapse’s global footprint to over 220 employees complete with one of the world’s largest product and engineering teams developing social engagement and advertising solutions. Syncapse will expand its sales and marketing operations in its new headquarters in New York. Through the acquisition, Syncapse will expand its innovation and presence in Asia, with an R&D center in Gurgaon, India. Syncapse will continue operations in its offices in Toronto, London, and Portland.

“CMOs of global enterprises, are increasingly looking for a single solution to drive social performance and understand ROI across paid, earned, and owned media,” said Michael Scissons, CEO of Syncapse. “Syncapse has the most experience across all technologies and platforms, and we are committed to delivering the best product in the market that syncs with our customers’ legacy systems, including CRM, listening, media, and other databases. We were built to serve the marketing organization from day one, and will deploy the technology and knowledge from Clickable to serve our customers better than anyone in the business.”

“The inextricable link between social engagement and paid media demands that marketers tightly integrate their planning, execution, and measurement across all digital marketing investments,” said David S. Kidder, CEO and co-founder of Clickable. “By uniting with Syncapse, we’ve created an unparalleled offering to ensure marketers maximize their return on paid, owned and earned media.”

For more information, please see a blog post from Syncapse CEO Michael Scissions.

USA, New York, NY

 

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WPP plc to acquire 87% of Press Index S.A

June 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP plc  the global communications services group, and Press Index S.A., a media intelligence and monitoring business, announced today exclusive negotiations for the acquisition by WPP of shares representing 87% of the outstanding shares of Press Index from its founders as well as other sellers.

Provided this transaction completes, the purchaser would initiate an all-cash simplified tender offer (followed as the case may be by a squeeze-out procedure) to acquire the remaining outstanding shares of Press Index, in accordance with the General Regulation of the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers.

The price per share would be €6.81 in cash. This price would currently value Press Index at approximately €11.2 million total equity value.

UK, London & France, Paris

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JWT to acquire majority stake in Hungama Digital Services in India

June 13, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned operating company JWT Singapore, is to acquire a majority stake in Hungama Digital Services Private Limited, the digital and promotions marketing division of Hungama Digital Entertainment Private Limited.

Based in Mumbai, Hungama Digital Services’ offering includes strategic planning, web design and maintenance, digital marketing, search engine marketing, social media optimisation and communications strategy, rich media, viral marketing campaigns, merchandising, events and conference management, and sampling. The agency employs 110 people and clients include Mahindra & Mahindra, Bacardi, Godfrey Philips, Britannia Industries, Tupperware India and Hindustan Unilever.

India remains one of the WPP’s fastest growth markets, with revenues of approximately $500 million including associates.  The Group collectively employs around 12,000 people.

UK, London & India, Mumbai

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Project: WorldWide acquires social marketing firm Affinitive

June 6, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet
Project: WorldWide has acquiredAffinitive, a word-of-mouth and social media agency and Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) that handles consumer assignments for brands such as Random House, E.&J. Gallo Winery, Major League Soccer and Ubisoft. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in New York City, Affinitive provides social business solutions combining innovative consumer engagement strategies with proprietary technology, real-time monitoring and integration with clients’ existing enterprise systems to create a seamless platform for creating and executing integrated brand programs.

Over the course of a decade and more than 200 campaigns, Affinitive has created and managed online brand communities, customer insight/advisory panels, loyalty/rewards programs, social and mobile applications, digital promotions and much more. As a founding member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, the group is recognized as an industry pioneer and a leader within the industry’s ongoing efforts to evolve social media marketing practices and standards.

“Affinitive is a natural fit for Project in that we share the same belief about how brands must adapt to spark two-way dialogue and actively participate in customer-driven conversations,” said Robert G. Vallee Jr., Chairman & CEO of Project: WorldWide. “Brands today seek to engage through more meaningful stories and experiences, and Affinitive will help advance our mission to do just that.”

USA, Auburn Hills, MI & New York, NY

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Mood Media Corporation acquires BIS for €22.5M

June 1, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Mood Media Corporation has acquired BIS Group, a provider of commercial audio-visual installation in the Benelux region, for a consideration of €22.5 million in cash. Mood Media is an in-store media specialist that helps its clients communicate with consumers with a view to driving incremental sales at the point-of-purchase.

In the year ended December 31, 2011, BIS recorded revenue of €46.1 M and Profit Before Tax of €2.6 M.

Lorne Abony, CEO & Chairman of Mood Media Corporation, commented, “We are excited about the BIS acquisition for a number of reasons.  Firstly, the acquisition’s merits on a stand-alone basis are compelling; Mood is acquiring a well-established business with a strong market position at an attractive value. Most critically, however, we believe that BIS’s sophisticated and comprehensive installation capabilities will enable Mood to better capitalize on its tremendous visual market opportunity and grow its visual recurring revenue base more efficiently.

The acquisition is in step with Mood’s growth strategy of driving organic sales growth by enabling the enlarged group to offer an expanded range of products and services.  The integration of BIS with Mood also offers further opportunities to centralise and realise scale economies from the combined organisation.

Canada, Toronto & The Netherlands, Ridderkerk

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KBM Group to acquire a majority stake in digital data agency Predictys SAS

May 29, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned operating network KBM Group, is to acquire a majority stake in Predictys SAS in France.

Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Grenoble, Predictys is a marketing company specialising in digital data and campaign technology. Predictys’ cooperative database includes information from 140 million opted-in consumers from among more than 25 co-op partners. The majority of Predictys’ clients are affiliation networks which use Predictys as a third party provider to supply their own clients with direct marketing services.

Predictys’ revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were EUR 3,360,685, with gross assets of EUR 3,090,853.

WPP’s digital revenues currently total around US$4.8 billion, representing over 30% of the Group’s total revenues of over U$16 billion. WPP has set a target of 35 – 40% of revenue derived from digital in the next five years. Collectively, WPP companies employ nearly 5,000 people in France (including associates) with revenues of approximately US$850 million. On this basis, France is WPP’s seventh largest market.

UK, London & France, Grenoble

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Ogilvy & Mather to acquire a stake in Today Advertising in Myanmar

May 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Ogilvy & Mather, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP, is to acquire a stake in Today Advertising, an advertising agency in Myanmar.  Based in Yangon, Today Advertising employs 60 people.

This investment continues WPP’s strategy of developing its services in fast-growing and important markets and sectors and brings the total number of countries in which the Group operates to 108. WPP’s businesses in the Asia Pacific region now generate revenues of over US$4 billion (including associates) and employ approximately 42,000 people, contributing to Group revenues of over US$16 billion (including associates) and total employees of over 158,000.

UK, London & Myanmar, Yangon

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