According to Event Magazine, The Edge Entertainment Agency has acquired Viscount Entertainment for an undisclosed sum.
David Sands has stepped down as owner of Viscount Entertainments and will work with the company on a consultancy basis.
There have been no staff losses and Viscount Entertainment will continue to work under the same brand.
UK, Cambridgeshire
The AdMedia Partners annual survey of senior executives interviews senior executives in leading content (traditional media and digital media) and services (marketing services, digital marketing and marketing technology) businesses. They were asked for their views on the prospects for industry mergers and acquisitions in the year ahead.
Respondents believe that M&A activity will increase in 2011 – with 78–86% (of content and services respondents, respectively) expecting more M&A activity from strategic buyers and 63–68% expecting more M&A activity from financial buyers.
On the services side, approximately half of respondents considered EBITDA multiples of 8x or greater to be reasonable for companies providing analytics/optimization, mobile marketing, social marketing and marketing technology services. The median multiples for content firms were in the 5–6x EBITDA range, with the exception of online media achieving the highest valuation expectations of 7–8x. Consumer media and business-to-business media both showed significant gains in valuation expectations, jumping from 4x EBITDA in last year’s survey to 6x EBITDA this year.
The full report can be downloaded from here
USA, New York, NY
WPP is to acquire all the assets of privately held Blue State Digital, LLC in the United States and the United Kingdom through WPP Digital, the digital investment and operating arm of WPP.
Blue State Digital is a full-service digital agency specializing in advocacy, membership and fundraising campaigns for nonprofits, educational and cultural institutions, political campaigns and corporate brands. The company’s annual revenue has grown in excess of 30% per year since its founding in 2004. BSD employs 130 people across its offices in Washington DC, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and London.
“Blue State Digital will bring distinctive skills to WPP Digital through its formidable presence in cause-based marketing, its comprehensive core technology set and an impressive set of clients,” said Mark Read, Director of Strategy for the parent company and CEO of WPP Digital. “We are delighted they will be joining WPP Digital and are looking forward to working with a very talented management team, with unique credentials, to bring their skills to the entire WPP network and our clients.”
“I’ve witnessed first-hand Blue State Digital’s political prowess and I am very impressed by their ability to take their political and organizing skills and apply them to a wide array of challenges,” said Howard Paster, WPP’s Executive Vice President, Public Relations and Public Affairs. “Providing services that span the political, not-for-profit and commercial worlds is not always easy, but BSD masters it. They are a welcome addition to WPP Digital.”
Thomas Gensemer, Managing Partner of BSD, added, “We are excited to continue our growth within WPP Digital. We look forward to leveraging WPP’s vast resources, incredible talent, and deep client relationships around the world to grow our business and further extend our leadership for both non-profit and for-profit clients.”
“WPP Digital will be a great home for BSD as we pursue our mission of bridging traditional and new-media campaigns to deepen relationships between organizations and the people most important to them,” said Joe Rospars, Founding Partner and Creative Director of BSD.
BSD was founded in 2004 and has helped over 250 clients inspire and engage people for fundraising, membership, and advocacy-oriented programs, raising over $800 million in contributions to date and generating tens of millions of online signups and actions. Their work on the 2008 “Obama for America” campaign is demonstrative of their market-leading approach to technology and online communications. In recent years, the company’s management has successfully applied their strategies to a diverse list of clients around the world including major non-profits, consumer brands, media properties and political causes.
USA, Washington DC & UK, London
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Gigaom is reporting that Tremor Media has raised an additional $65 million in funding, and that it is likely related to Tremor’s acquisition of rival ad network Scanscout last month. At that time, Tremor claimed about $70 million to $75 million in 2010 sales, and was expecting to grow that amount to $110 million next year. ScanScout, meanwhile, pulled in an additional $20 to $25 million in 2010.
Adage’s report on the Scanscout acquisition
USA, New York, NY
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Publicis Groupe has acquired Healthcare Consulting, a strategic consulting firm focused on the healthcare sector. This new agency will be renamed Publicis Healthcare Consulting, and will continue to be led by the agency’s founders Francois Sarkozy, Chairman, and Yannick Sabatin General Manager. Following the acquisition, Francois Sarkozy will act as a special advisor to Jean-Yves Naouri, Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Groupe. Jean-Yves Naouri also supervises Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, which is led by PHCG CEO Nick Colucci.
Headquartered in Paris, with an office in New York, Publicis Healthcare Consulting provides strategic consulting to healthcare and pharmaceutical companies.
Jean-Yves Naouri, Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Groupe, stated “I am delighted to welcome Francois Sarkozy and Yannick Sabatin to our expanding healthcare offering. The duo brings a very compelling yet innovative approach to serving clients and we will benefit immensely from their expertise”.
France, Paris
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December 16, 2010
AOL has acquired Pictela, the provider of a global technology platform for serving and distributing high-definition brand content across online advertising and social media. Pictela will remain a separate group within AOL Advertising, based in New York, and will continue to provide its products and services to outside partners. Deal terms were not disclosed. Pictela joins other strategic acquisitions made by AOL in 2010 including StudioNow, 5min Media, TechCrunch and Thing Labs.
“Pictela is an outstanding fit for AOL as we re-imagine the intersection of content, advertising and the consumer experience,” said Jeff Levick, AOL’s President of Global Advertising and Strategy. “Pictela’s product development team is best-in-class, and its beautiful, content rich, media display formats meet Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Online Publishers Association (OPA) standards that run across AOL Media properties and other publisher sites. We’ve taken one important step towards spotlighting quality ad content with Project Devil on AOL Media properties, and now we’re taking a second by bringing Pictela into the AOL Advertising family.”
Levick added, “Our goal is to create the highest quality ad content for the best user experience and monetization opportunities, and we’re excited to work with innovators who share our vision and excitement for what brand advertising on the Web should be.”
Formed in 2009, the Pictela platform delivers videos, photos and applications in real time across the Web in a range of formats that meet IAB and OPA standards. Pictela is certified by some of the world’s largest publishers and is distributed by AOL, Glam Media and Hearst, among others.
“We believe that joining AOL is an outstanding opportunity to combine with a company that is as committed to redefining brand advertising on the Web as we are,” said Greg Rogers, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pictela. “As one of the world’s premium publishers, AOL will not only be one of our biggest customers, it will also be our greatest resource with the scale, technology and commitment to world-class content to help realize the true potential of the online environment.”hare of voice and providing a large, multi-functional advertising canvas, early Devil ad campaigns have achieved significantly better Interaction Rates (ITR) than the industry average for rich media banners. Following advertiser demand, out these factors as they relate to AOL may be found in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in AOL’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AOL is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
USA, New York, NY
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Publicis Groupe has taken a majority stake in Andreoli MS&L, one of Brazil’s top 5 full-service PR agencies. Part-owned by Publicis Groupe since 2001, the agency will be renamed Andreoli MSL Brasil, and will continue to align under MSLGROUP, Publicis Groupe’s leading specialty communications, PR and events network.
Founded in 1993 by Paulo Andreoli, Andreoli MSL Brasil employs 45 communications specialists. The agency provides consumer PR, corporate communications strategy, public affairs and crisis management for major clients including Sodexo, Hydro, OHL, BlackRock, Danone, Royal Bank of Scotland and Louis Dreyfus. As well as being a leading player in Brazil’s dynamic communications market, Sao Paulo-based Andreoli MSL Brasil will now also be a flagship hub agency for MSLGROUP’s network of 14 affiliated agencies across Latin America and Central America, with Paulo Andreoli at the helm of those businesses. Following the increase to majority ownership, Paulo Andreoli will report to Jim Tsokanos, President of MSLGROUP Americas.
In its global adspend forecast, ZenithOptimedia earlier this month predicted Latin America would be the world’s best-performing region in 2010, with ZenithOptimedia expecting growth of nearly 14 percent this year, with projections of up to 25.5 percent growth in the Brazilian market alone.
The Andreoli MSL Brasil transaction comes two months after Publicis Groupe took a stake in Brazilian advertising agency Talent. Publicis Groupe also recently acquired leading PR companies Eastwei in China, as well as both 20:20 MEDIA and 2020SOCIAL in India in the last eight weeks, all three of which joined MSLGROUP. These moves are in line with the Groupe’s stated expansion plans for the high-growth BRIC markets.
MSLGROUP CEO Olivier Fleurot commented, “Increasing our foothold in the Brazilian market means our global clients now have seamless access to one of Brazil’s star speciality communications agencies. It also positions MSLGROUP well for expansion in the South America region as a whole – this is a deal we’re naturally very excited about.”
France, Paris & Brazil, Sao Paulo
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The on-line media group Hi-Media has announced that “given the tremendous opportunities offered by the e-payment market dynamism, it has asked the investment bank NIBC Bank to study different possible industrial and financial partnerships with respect to its leading micropayment platform Allopass and its e-wallet Hipay.”
Hi-media, is an online media group with more than 50 million unique visitors per month on its proprietary websites. Hi-media is a large leading European player in online advertising and electronic payment. Its business model relies thus on two different sources of revenues: online advertising via its dedicated ad network Hi-media Advertising and online content monetization via its micropayment platform Allopass. The group which operates in 9 European countries, USA and Brazil employs more than 500 people. In 2009 Hi-Media achieved €206 million in sales.
France, Paris
Undertone today announced it has acquired WWN, a European digital representation firm that helps global brands connect with audiences on the world’s best websites. The acquisition unifies two organizations that are known for providing advertisers with premium reach on quality sites and gives publishers a unique opportunity to monetize both locally and globally.
WWN’s relationships include hundreds of the world’s leading professional news and information publishers in more than 40 countries, including The Economist, The Times of India, Der Spiegel, Reuters and El Mundo.
“Undertone is aggressively scaling its business through rapid organic growth as well as domestic and international acquisition,” said Mike Cassidy, CEO, Undertone. “We are becoming a much more dominant player in digital advertising.”
Undertone also announced today that Steve Goldberg, one of the founders and an original board member of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), has joined the company as Senior Vice President and General Manager of International to lead the firm’s expanding global initiatives. Goldberg brings executive experience from media technology and mobility companies such as Intellisync (acquired by Nokia), Go2Net (acquired by Infospace), and Microsoft, where he was group manager of the initial advertising team.
USA, New York, NY & France, Paris
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Publicis Groupe has acquired Digital District, an interactive healthcare agency. Digital District will be aligned under Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG) and will become part of the global digital communications arm of PHCG. Digital District will maintain its current location in Dusseldorf, Germany, and will continue to be led by General Manager Aleksandar Stojanovic.
Founded in 2002, Digital District focuses on defining and implementing digital communication strategies. The agency offers a fully integrated suite of innovative interactive solutions, including digital branding, content management, e-commerce strategies, social media, web 2.0, and online marketing. Digital District’s clients include AstraZeneca, Siemens, Bellicon, Weleda, and Sara Lee.
The acquisition of Digital District illustrates Publicis Groupe’s commitment to strengthening its digital expertise in healthcare communications. Alain Sarraf, President of Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, Europe, “With the ever-increasing focus on providing our clients with dynamic digital experiences, the addition of Digital District strengthens our prowess in this sector. This move allows us to increase our global footprint and create a stronger European digital entity.”
France, Paris & Germany, Dusseldorf
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