Gannett acquires social media marketing solutions company BLiNQ Media

August 26, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Gannett Co., Inc. has acquired BLiNQ Media LLC, a global innovator of Social Engagement AdvertisingSM solutions for agencies and brands. Since 2008, BLiNQ has managed social media marketing campaigns for more than 600 of the world’s largest advertisers.

“With demand for social media marketing solutions continuing to grow at a rapid pace, this acquisition is part of our ongoing transformation at Gannett and positions us to be a leader in both local and global social media marketing. BLiNQ will enhance Gannett Digital Marketing Services’ ability to deliver a one-stop shop for all marketing needs, including social marketing,” said Gracia Martore, president and CEO at Gannett.

BLiNQ will continue to operate its core business as part of Gannett’s portfolio of brands, providing technology and media solutions for social advertising and engagement to agencies and brands. As part of Gannett’s Digital Marketing Services organization, BLiNQ will help develop innovative social marketing solutions for businesses that want to reach local consumers. Gannett Digital Marketing Services will fully leverage BLiNQ’s BAM 2.0 technology platform, which facilitates social media campaign planning, set-up, management, optimization and insights. BLiNQ will have a strong focus on delivering robust solutions for local social engagement at scale, including working closely with ShopLocal to help shape best practices and results in reaching, engaging and building loyalty with retail consumers via social media. Dave Williams, BLiNQ’s CEO, will report to Vikram Sharma, president and CEO at Gannett Digital Marketing Services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

BLiNQ’s headquarters will remain at TechSpace in New York City and its technology, finance and marketing groups will remain based in Atlanta. BLiNQ’s sales and support offices will continue in London, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

USA, McLean, VA & New York, NY

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Millward Brown to acquire consumer insight company, Cadem Advertising, in Chile

July 23, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly owned operating company Millward Brown, a brand, media and communications research business,  has acquired Cadem Advertising S.A., a consumer insights company in Chile.

Founded in 1997, Cadem has operated as a licensee of Millward Brown for many years providing brand tracking, quantitative and qualitative research services.

Cadem employs 87 people and key clients include Coca-Cola, Falabella Retail, Nestle, Telefonica and Unilever.

Cadem’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were approximately CLP3.2 billion with gross assets of approximately CLP1.3 billion at the same date.

UK, London & Chile, Santiago

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Publicis Groupe acquires CNC – Communications & Network Consulting AG

July 18, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Publicis Groupe has acquired strategic communications consultancy CNC – Communications & Network Consulting AG . CNC will become part of MSLGROUP, the strategic communications network of Publicis Groupe. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Headquartered in Munich, CNC is an international strategic communications consultancy group. CNC, which employs around 100 professionals, is present in 14 cities across Europe, Asia, North and South America. Since its founding in 2002, the consultancy has regularly achieved double-digit annual growth.

CNC advises large corporations, mid-cap companies, institutions and individuals on all aspects of strategic communications within their specific markets. CNC’s services range from strategic communications and reputation management to financial communications, crisis counseling including litigation advisory, branding and public affairs.

CNC has been involved in more than 100 German IPO transactions with a total volume of more than €180 billion and has a particularly strong focus on cross-border mandates.

CNC will be aligned to MSLGROUP. Its leadership under CEO Dr. Christoph Walther remains unchanged.  MSLGROUP CEO Olivier Fleurot and MSLGROUP President for the EMEA region, Anders Kempe, will join CNC’s supervisory board where Mr Kempe will become Chairman.

Maurice Levy, Publicis Groupe Chairman and CEO, said,”CNC is one of the premier strategic and financial public relations firms in Europe, with a client base that is outstanding. I have followed CNC’s success story with interest and I am impressed by the company’s entrepreneurial spirit. The skill set will fit perfectly into our group and our strategy to make Germany one of our key hubs.”

France, Paris and Germany, Munich

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TiVo to acquire TRA

July 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

TiVo is to acquire TRA, a media marketing and analytics software company whose products help advertisers, agencies and television networks improve advertising targeting, accountability and return on media investment. TRA matches television exposures from 1.5 million TV homes with specific purchase transactions. The new unit will be known as TiVo Research and Analytics.

Tom Rogers, CEO and President of TiVo said, “TV has long been the best medium for advertisers to influence what consumers buy. TRA has proven its platform can determine the effectiveness of TV advertising by connecting the exposure of ads to actual purchases, helping advertisers identify the right audience and get the most out of their ad dollars. TRA has driven a substantial client list of advertisers, agencies and networks with this proposition. With this new level of unique audience insights and analytics, TiVo will be able to provide insights nobody else has in an industry increasingly seeking alternative ways to measure audience behavior accurately while increasing efficiencies in media spending.”

TRA has more than 45 brand clients and 27 network clients including CBS, A&E Television Networks, ION Media, Procter & Gamble, Oscar Mayer and Starcom MediaVest Group, among others.

TiVo will pay approximately $20 million for TRA. TiVo expects the transaction to close this month. TRA’s revenue is on track to increase significantly in 2012.

 

USA, Alviso, CA

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A Fusion Deal: Econsultancy sold to Centaur

July 10, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Fusion Corporate Partners are pleased to announce our latest deal, the sale of Econsultancy.com Limited to business information and events group Centaur Media plc.

Econsultancy is a leading digital and events-led information provider to the global digital marketing and e-commerce community in the UK, with a growing presence in the USA, Middle East, Asia and Australia. Econsultancy’s revenues stem from subscriptions, events, training, professional qualifications and media. The company has approximately 110,000 registered users and approximately 5,000 subscribers.

Centaur are paying an initial consideration of £12m in cash, with deferred consideration of up to £38m due in 2016, based on EBITDA performance for the year ending December 2015.

Econsultancy was founded in 1999. In the financial year to 31 December 2011, Econsultancy reported revenues of £6.6m (representing an increase of 50 per cent. on the prior period) and adjusted EBITDA of £1.1m. Econsultancy’s CEO and key executives will remain with the business following the acquisition

The acquisition is a key part of the strategy to transform the Centaur Group into a predominantly digital and events-led business. The deal complements Centaur’s market-leading publications, events and digital services in the marketing, design and creative sectors.

Geoff Wilmot, Centaur Chief Executive, said, “The earnings enhancing acquisition of Econsultancy provides us with an exciting opportunity to acquire a leading information brand in a high growth sector with global potential which fits well with Centaur products including Marketing Week and New Media Age. Econsultancy is highly complementary with Centaur and gives us a prominent position in the rapidly growing digital marketing sector with the opportunity to scale internationally. We see considerable potential for collaborative growth through leveraging our existing position in marketing and the development of high value, paid-for information services.”

Paul Slight, Director at Fusion, said, “We were delighted to work with the team at Econsultancy. The company has become the leading source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce. It will be an excellent fit with Centaur products.”

UK, London

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OTHER FUSION DEALS:

Media and Information

Business Services
Events, Broadcast and Other deals
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Burson-Marsteller to acquire i&e SAS

June 25, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned public relations and public affairs firm Burson-Marsteller, is to acquire communications consultancy, i&e SAS in France.

Paris-based i&e has 50 years of experience in the French market and specialises in reputation management, brand marketing and change management.  The consultancy employs around 110 people and provides public relations services to public institutions and companies, including many of France’s leading brands.

i&e’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were approximately €13 million with gross assets of approximately €5 million at the same date.

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, Paris

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WPP to acquire AKQA

June 20, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP is to acquire the assets of digital agency AKQA Holdings, Inc.

Founded in 2001, AKQA provides integrated digital communications campaigns, spanning social media, mobile, interactive experiences, gaming and content creation.  Clients include Delta, Diageo, EDF, GAP, Google, Microsoft Xbox, Nike, Target, Unilever and Virgin Money, among many others.

International recognition for its creative excellence has earned the agency numerous industry awards, including 19 Agency of the Year titles.  Last year, AKQA won Digital Agency of the Year honours in both the US (Adweek) and the UK (Campaign) and collected five Cannes Lions.

Currently employing 1160 people worldwide – from software engineers and technologists to creatives and strategists – the agency operates through offices in the US (San Francisco, New York, Washington DC), Europe (London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin) and Asia (Shanghai). The agency had gross assets of $282 million as at 31 December 2011 and forecasts revenues of around $230 million in 2012, having achieved $189 million in 2011.

AKQA will continue to operate as an independent and stand-alone brand within WPP and be led by founder and CEO Ajaz Ahmed and Chairman Tom Bedecarré.  Tom Bedecarré will also become President of WPP Ventures, a new Silicon Valley-based company, which will explore new digital investment opportunities for WPP as a whole.

Commenting on the arrival of AKQA, Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP said:  “We are thrilled to welcome AKQA’s unique team of technological innovators and entrepreneurs to WPP.  We have admired their creativity and technological skills for a long time along with their outstandingly effective and award-winning work for clients. We are looking forward to working with Ajaz and Tom to broaden their offer and our own, both geographically and functionally.  We are delighted to be united!”

UK, London & USA, San Francisco, CA

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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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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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