Microsoft acquires PromoteIQ

Microsoft scooped up New York-based PromoteIQ, a startup that helps retailers build digital advertising and e-commerce offerings for an undisclosed amount.

PromoteIQ brings with it a roster of big-name customers, including Kroger, Kohl’s and Overstock.com. The start-up will continue to operate under its name and will become a division of Microsoft Advertising.

PromoteIQ noted that the retail landscape is changing, and Microsoft brings “a humble, thoughtful approach to building out the defining operating system to power the future of commerce. PromoteIQ has pioneered the private marketplace approach to digital vendor marketing. PromoteIQ technology strategically complements Microsoft’s current retail advertising offerings.

Microsoft earlier this year separated its advertising division from the search engine Bing, to signify that the organization has ambitions beyond search. The change came almost a year after the debut of Microsoft Audience Network, a program that uses artificial intelligence and data from Microsoft services including Bing, MSN, Outlook, Skype and LinkedIn to help advertisers target native ads to specific audiences based on their online activities.

Outbrain acquires AdNgin

Outbrain, the world’s leading native advertising platform, has acquired AdNgin, a UI Optimization company built to enhance the reader experience. This acquisition is Outbrain’s sixth to date, continuing a string of growth-driven accelerations in the last several years.

Guiding digital discoveries of readers around the globe, Outbrain connects publishers, marketers and consumers through personalized, interest-based recommendations. AdNgin focuses on that same level of personalization, individually optimizing the reader experience based on their visual preferences.

The understanding that every consumer is different — from their personal interests to the way they interact digitally — is what inspired the two companies to come together. Harnessing the combined technologies, performance will continually scale as publishers see higher RPMs (revenue per mile), marketers higher CTRs (click through rate), and readers better overall content interactions.

GroupM to acquire The Glitch

WPP owned media agency GroupM has agreed to buy a majority stake in the independent digital creative agency The Glitch, which will retain its branding. The acquisition will strengthen GroupM growth plans by offering its clients access to a wide portfolio of digital marketing services and content solutions.

The Glitch employs 240 people working out of offices in Delhi and Mumbai offering digital, planning and content services. It handles over 30 clients across brand categories with some of its key clients such as video streaming platform Netflix; fast moving consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever, dating app Tinder and online hospitality firm Oyo Rooms.

GroupM operates WPP’s media agencies including Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence and Motivator in India. Its primary purpose is to maximize the performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, and proprietary tool development. It handles blue chip clients such as consumer goods firm ITC Ltd, telecom firm Vodafone, retail chain Shoppers Stop, auto giant Tata Motors, e-commerce platform Myntra, liquor company Pernod Ricard and Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

In January last year, GroupM acquired a majority stake in the media agency MediaCom India, a joint venture between GroupM India and Sam Balsara, the principal shareholder of the Madison Media group. MediaCom India continues to operate as an independent brand.

Dentsu Aegis Network acquires DWA and HelloWorld

Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired the global B2B digital media and marketing agency DWA. Established in 1996, DWA is headquartered in San Francisco, with eight additional offices around the world. It has also acquired Detroit based HelloWorld a digital marketing solutions provider, focused on promotion and loyalty solutions.

HelloWorld has developed a differentiated practice that links response-driven consumer promotion with loyalty strategies and program execution. The company operates at the intersection of data, technology, and marketing strategy, enabling marketers to more effectively engage consumers and drive desirable emotional and behavioral response.

HelloWorld creates promotional and gamified campaigns to spark interest, loyalty programs to retain and reward, insights-driven communications to continue the brand-consumer conversation, and analytics to optimize marketing execution. Long-standing clients include Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft.

DWA applies expertise in ad-tech, real-time insight, and management decision support to a range of integrated, global media including: Programmatic, Search, Social, and Demand Generation. Its approach has delivered success for a diverse group of enterprise clients, including Sprint, NetApp, Cisco, DXC, Salesforce, Oracle and Informatica.

Cognizant to acquire Mirabeau BV

IT Services firm Cognizant will acquire privately held Mirabeau BV, a digital marketing and customer experience agency for an undisclosed amount. With the close of the acquisition, about 260 specialists from Mirabeau will become part of the Digital Business Practice at Cognizant, which has a majority of its workforce in India.

Mirabeau’s acquisition will expand Cognizant’s digital business capabilities in the Netherlands and across Europe, Cognizant said in statement. “Companies in consumer-facing sectors are increasing their investments in interactive solutions to provide better, more personalized experiences to their customers.”

To help clients drive growth, Cognizant Digital Business links social science research, digital strategy services, design thinking, marketing services, analytics, IoT products and services, cloud applications, and interactive content management. Mirabeau further strengthens Cognizant’s ability to work with clients to identify important insights, develop strategies, and then design prototype, and scale meaningful product and service experiences.

Based in Amsterdam, Mirabeau specializes in verticals like travel and hospitality, financial services, retail, and B2B sectors. Its clients include brands such as KLM, ING, Air France, Maxeda, MoneYou, LeasePlan.com, and Transavia. Leveraging its comprehensive design, branding and technology expertise, Mirabeau helps clients develop and implement their digital marketing strategies and build engaging omnichannel customer experiences.

NIIT acquires Perceptron

NIIT Ltd, a global skill and talent development firm, has acquired Bengaluru based startup Perceptron Learning Solutions Private Ltd to accelerate its digital initiatives and bring in deep analytics capabilities to its learning platforms. This is a strategic move to strengthen digital capabilities as the startup brings complementary technology platform to NIIT.

Started in 2014, Perceptron has been working on developing next generation learning platforms that combine deep analytics and semantic computing to ensure better learning outcomes. Deep Analytics entails data mining that analyzes extracts and organizes large amounts of data beneficial for an organization or individual, while semantic computing involves analyzing data based on meaning, context and intention.

Perceptron next generation learning platform, Ilimi, helps identity areas where a learner is lacking and provides appropriate recommendations. It is a cloud based platform, which combines short videos with personalized learning activities for its users based on its analytics and social learning. Ilimi technology is also one of the core components of the EkStep learning platform, a not for profit initiative set up to create learning opportunities for children.

At present, NIIT run three digital transformation initiatives StackRoute, digiNxt and Training.com and Perceptron Ilimi will bring semantic computing, predictive analytics, learning science capabilities to create learner-centric immersive learning and mastery learning platform for its users.

Lycos Internet to acquire TriTelA Gmbh

Digital Marketing Firm Lycos Internet Ltd will acquire 100% stake in Austria based mobile solutions provider TriTelA Gmbh in an all-stock transaction giving it access to cloud based technology that can help broaden its consumer services.

The deal will give Lycos access to TriTelA ‘mysms’ messenger that synchronizes test messages (SMS) and instant messages across different devices (mobile phones, tablets and desktops) through a cloud based account MySMS, available on Android Play and Apple store, has 3 million users worldwide and synchronizes 100 Million messages a day.

MySMS cloud based framework can tie multiple nodes such as SMS, instant messaging, wearable technology, connected ear and smart appliances with the consumer through multiple devices, smartphones, tablets, laptops and over-the-top (OTT) content. Lycos owns community and social sites in 120 languages in 177 countries including search engine Lycos.com. Last year, it launched two fitness bands under its newly launched Internet of Things based division called Lycos Life.

In the instant messenger space, it competes with the likes of Whatsapp, WeChat, Line, KakaoTalk, and Facebook Messenger that have millions of users. Lycos will also get to own two other assets of TriTelA as a result of this acquisition. SPH Wien is a content management and analytics platform for Video. Kika Social is a unified platform for social media listening, engagement and measurement. 

Simplilearn acquired Market Motive

Bangalore based Simplilearn solutions Pvt. Ltd., the company behind online education and training destination for professional certification courses Simplilearn.com has acquired Silicon Valley based Digital Marketing Training firm Market Motive for $10 Million (Rs 62 crore). It will also help the company make further inroads in the US market.

The deal augments Simplilearn offerings in the booming digital marketing field with courses in social media marketing, digital advertising, web analytics, and marketing automation. Simplilearn, which raised $15 Million in its third round of funding in April to expand its reach in the US, trained more than 400,000 people and offers 250 courses from advanced cloud computing to Six Sigma and Big Data on its site.

With this acquisition, its offerings will include training and certification in digital marketing with courses web analytics and mobile marketing. California based Market Motive will continue to operate as an independent part of Simplilearn. Market Motive specializes in SEO, web analytics, social media marketing, conversion optimization, mobile marketing, PPC advertising, and content marketing.

In April, Simplilearn had secured $15 Million in series C funding by early stage investor Mayfield, with participation from existing investors Kalaari Capital and Helion Venture Partners. It had also secured $10 Million in a series B round of funding in September 2013 from Helion Venture partners and Kalaari Capital. In August 2012, it had bagged around $2 Million in Series A funding from Kalaari Capital.

GroupM in talks to acquire Foxymoron

GroupM is the world largest advertising media company in terms of billing. It was formed in 2003 by WPP Group to serve as the parent company of WPP media agencies including Maxus, MEC, MediaCom, and Vocanic. It handles over 32% of the world media billings making it the world largest media investment management operation. Foxymoron was started in 2008 as a summer project between four friends and turned into a digital media and marketing company.

Global media firm GroupM is in talks to acquire Foxymoron for about $30 Million, as it seeks to establish dominant position in India. If the deal becomes successful then it will be the latest buyout transaction in the nascent, but fast growing Indian Digital, social media, and marketing sector. Global Media giant JWT is also scouting for potential acquisitions in the space.

Foxymoron provides an across the board range of services, including, end to end digital services, including design and development and social media services. The potential transaction is part of GroupM strategy to establish an even stronger footprint in the country, where it already has a dominant presence. India’s online advertising market is poised to exceed Rs 3500 crore in revenue in 2015.

Spend on video ads will grow at a compounded annual rate of 56% while contributing 12% to the overall market share of digital advertisements. The principal sources of acceleration in 2015 are China, where GroupM predicts ad growth will get back on track to just fewer than 10%, the US, forecast to pick up to 3.9, the Brazil, the UK, Japan and India. Acquisitions have been an important growth strategy for GroupM, which also acquired Chinese Social media agency Teein last year.