Marketing & Advertising Acquisitions in 2021

Associates International (Ai) made a minority investment in Global Research Group, Inc. (dba Prospect Direct), a Dallas-based lead generation company; the transaction closed on December 28, 2021. The investment provides Prospect Direct with capital and a strategic partner to support growth and expand its marketing implementation and lead-generation capabilities.

Graphic Village purchased the Cincinnati operations of OneTouchPoint on December 30, 2021, acquiring personnel, equipment and the local customer base in a divestiture by OneTouchPoint. The deal will transition the Cincinnati facility's operations to Graphic Village’s Blue Ash, Ohio site and expands Graphic Village’s print, marketing and mailing capabilities in the Cincinnati region.

ButcherJoseph & Co. served as exclusive financial advisor to InVision Communications on the sale of the company to the InVision Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). The transaction closed on December 29, 2021, making InVision 100% employee-owned; the agency is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area and provides integrated brand, experiential and communications services.

MCAP Acquisition Corporation, sponsored by Monroe Capital, completed its business combination with AdTheorent, and the combined company began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker ADTH. The transaction included an oversubscribed $121.5 million PIPE anchored by Hana Financial Group, Monroe Capital and Palantir Technologies and provided roughly $100 million of primary proceeds to fund AdTheorent's growth; H.I.G. Growth Partners remains AdTheorent's largest stockholder.

Atlanta-based private equity firm Crown Capital Investments has acquired the JRT agency, a Farmington Hills, Michigan digital-first marketing agency, and its sister company CG Detroit, a branded graphics and production provider. The acquisitions expand Crown Capital's marketing solutions portfolio and are expected to create synergies with existing portfolio company H&W Solutions to enhance consumer engagement and fulfillment capabilities.

Benelux private equity firm Mentha has taken a minority stake in Bright River, a Dutch visual content solutions provider, to accelerate the company's growth and support international expansion. Bright River, headquartered in Haarlem with offices in New York, Dhaka and Chennai, provides AI-powered image, video and 3D content services to leading e-commerce retailers and employs around 750 people.

Align Capital Partners made a growth capital investment in We Are Rosie, a flexible talent marketplace for advertising and marketing, in December 2021. The deal valued We Are Rosie at $110 million; founder and CEO Stephanie Nadi Olson retained a significant stake and will continue to lead the company as it uses the capital to invest in people and technology to scale its marketplace.

EVERSANA has completed its acquisition of Intouch Group, a global full-service agency network serving the pharmaceutical industry. The deal integrates Intouch’s creative, media, enterprise solutions and data analytics into EVERSANA’s commercialization services platform to expand capabilities and accelerate digital-first commercialization for life sciences clients.

Chicago-headquartered SPM Group, backed by Corridor Capital, acquired health content agency GLC as an add-on to deepen its written and digital content capabilities for health, healthcare and wellness clients. The acquisition — GLC is SPM Group's third agency addition (and second in 2021) — expands the platform's integrated services offering and client access to additional content strategy and production expertise.

Digital marketing agency Brainlabs has acquired social advertising agency and creative studio Consumer Acquisition to expand its social creative, managed paid social services, and mobile app marketing capabilities. Consumer Acquisition will operate as Brainlabs' in-house creative studio for app marketing and its CEO Brian Bowman will join Brainlabs as SVP-Global App Marketing.

GumGum acquired Playground xyz, an attention-measurement advertising platform, in a cash-and-stock deal announced Dec. 16, 2021. The acquisition integrates Playground xyz’s Attention Intelligence Platform into GumGum’s contextual offering, expands GumGum’s APAC footprint, and names Rob Hall to lead attention products as Global President.

Vested, an integrated financial services communications firm, has acquired Red Lab Technologies, a Cedar Falls-based web design, development and digital marketing agency. The acquisition expands Vested's digital capabilities—adding WordPress development, SEO, paid social and marketing automation expertise—and brings Red Lab's talent into the Vested platform to better serve financial and healthcare clients.

Comvest Partners' portfolio company Gen3 Marketing has acquired OAK Digital LLC, an affiliate-focused digital marketing firm, to expand Gen3's affiliate marketing capabilities and distribution channels. The add-on bolsters Gen3's service offering to direct-to-consumer and e-commerce clients and is supported by Comvest, which invested in Gen3 earlier in 2021.

DemandJump, an Indianapolis-based marketing strategy platform, announced the acquisition of content agency Metonymy Media to accelerate its Center of Excellence for content and enhance its SEO-driven content capabilities. The deal brings Metonymy’s creative writing team into DemandJump to productize content offerings that drive first-page search rankings, qualified traffic, and improved lead generation for both B2B and B2C clients.

NorthEdge has backed a primary management buyout of London-based marketing consultancy ICP, with CEO Christopher Grakal and the firm's management team participating. The investment will fund ICP's international growth, new service launches and team expansion while founder Adrian Smith steps down as Chair.

Yes& Agency has acquired Beyond Definition, a Silver Spring, Maryland-based brand and marketing agency founded in 2003. The deal brings Beyond Definition’s team and capabilities in research, brand strategy, design and digital into Yes&, with Beyond Definition’s Founder & CEO Debbie Bates-Schrott and President Mark Devito joining the Yes& executive team; Clare Advisors advised Beyond Definition and TobinLeff advised Yes& on the transaction.

TruArc Partners, a New York–based private equity firm, has made a significant growth investment in Lamark Media, a Boca Raton–based integrated digital marketing agency. The capital and strategic partnership will be used to accelerate Lamark’s growth through investments in people, technology, capabilities and the continued acquisition of complementary businesses; terms were not disclosed.

Tiny, a Canadian holding company focused on the digital agency space, has acquired a majority stake in Frosty, a brand design and marketing strategy firm founded by J.D. Ostrow and Greg Stogdon. The investment will allow Frosty to scale its services and broaden its portfolio while enabling Tiny to deepen its presence in fashion, sport and branding; Frosty Pop (the related games studio) will continue to operate independently and an existing investor, Faisal Sethi, remains involved.

UTA (United Talent Agency) has acquired MediaLink, the media and marketing strategic advisory firm founded by Michael Kassan, from Ascential PLC. MediaLink will remain an independent UTA-owned company with Kassan continuing as CEO and its ~150-person team operating from offices including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London.

Raleigh-based 919 Marketing has acquired Richmond-based NetSearch Digital Marketing to expand its in-house SEO, PPC and web design capabilities for franchise and multi-location brands. The deal deepens 919 Marketing's local marketing services and complements its prior acquisition of Ceralytics to strengthen analytics-driven content and digital offerings.

The Stable, a commerce agency backed by Growth Catalyst Partners, has acquired Shopify-focused agencies Brand Value Accelerator (BVA) and Zehner. The deals—completed with financing support from Balance Point Capital—combine The Stable’s retail commerce capabilities with BVA’s and Zehner’s deep DTC and Shopify expertise to create a larger omnichannel commerce agency that now employs more than 500 people. BVA was previously a portfolio company of August Spark.

Quartile has acquired Sidecar, combining their machine-learning-driven ad optimization platforms to form the largest cross-channel e-commerce advertising solution and doubling ad spend under management to about $2 billion. The combined company will serve more than 5,000 brands across 26 countries; Rockbridge Growth Equity remains the lead institutional investor and existing Sidecar shareholders retain a meaningful stake in the post-acquisition entity. Terms were not disclosed.

Adelis Equity Partners has made a majority investment in Pixelz ApS in a growth buyout, with Pixelz's management remaining in their roles and retaining significant ownership. The partnership will support Pixelz's international expansion and further development of its AI-powered image retouching platform for e-commerce customers.

Adobe has entered into an agreement to acquire ContentCal, a London-based social media planning and content marketing SaaS. The acquisition will bring ContentCal's scheduling, publishing and reporting capabilities into Adobe's creative products (including Adobe Express) to expand social media workflow and Creator Economy offerings.

Insignia Capital Group completed an equity investment in New Engen, a Seattle-based digital marketing agency, to accelerate growth and expand the agency's service capabilities. Insignia will join New Engen's board; existing investor August Capital and New Engen management will remain on the board as the agency continues to operate independently.

Stone-Goff Partners made a growth investment in Spotlight AR alongside the company's founding partners to support expansion of sales and marketing, continued development of its proprietary analyst relations platform, and potential acquisitions. Spotlight AR, founded in 2012 and headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, serves more than 100 clients and has over 125 employees.

Houston-based brand experience firm BrandExtract has integrated Axiom, a 24-year branding and digital strategy agency, bringing the combined team to nearly 50 employees. The move expands BrandExtract’s capabilities in digital strategy, HubSpot, WordPress, animation/video production and deepens its B2B and B2C client offerings.

Professional Datasolutions, Inc. (PDI) has acquired Koupon, a digital promotions provider that helps CPG brands and convenience retailers deploy targeted offers. The deal expands PDI's Offer Network scale and capabilities—adding Koupon's experience delivering billions of offers and strengthening PDI's shopper engagement and age-verification functionality for age-restricted brands.

Dynata acquired Ameritest, a brand and advertising research consultancy, to add creative testing capabilities to its advertising solutions and Dynata Platform. The acquisition integrates Ameritest's proprietary creative-testing methodologies with Dynata's first-party data to help clients optimize messaging, audience targeting, and campaign effectiveness.

WPP has acquired a majority stake in branding and design agency Made Thought and will integrate the studio into AKQA, joining Universal Design Studio and Map Project Office to form a collective called The New Standard. Made Thought, founded in 2000, operates from London and New York and employs roughly 55 people, serving clients including Pinterest, Unilever, LVMH and Sonos.

Qualfon, a full-service BPO and customer lifecycle provider, has acquired LeadVision Media to add digital demand generation, affiliate network capabilities and owned media (RevenueAds, MyDegree.com) to its service offering. The deal expands Qualfon's lead generation and digital marketing solutions for education, insurance and consumer financial-services clients.

BIGtoken, Inc. announced the closing of its all-stock merger with BritePool, Inc. and changed its corporate name from Force Protection Video Equipment Corp. to BIGtoken, Inc. David J. Moore (co-founder and former CEO of BritePool) was appointed CEO of the combined company as the businesses combine identity, data and ad-tech capabilities to expand privacy-oriented marketing solutions.

Tenex Capital Management has made a growth investment in Suited Connector, a Colorado-based MarTech lead generation and remarketing platform. The capital will be used to accelerate organic and inorganic growth while the Suited Connector management team remains in place.

Finsbury Glover Hering and Sard Verbinnen & Co. have completed a merger to form a combined global strategic communications firm with more than 1,000 professionals and a global headquarters in New York. WPP remains the majority investor and Golden Gate Capital converted its equity in SVC and remains an investor; the combined firm will operate from 25 offices worldwide and will announce a new name and brand in early 2022.

Graphic Village has acquired Mail Louisville, a variable print and mailing company based in Louisville, Kentucky. The deal expands Graphic Village's variable print and mailing capabilities, adds a SOC-II certified secure facility in Kentucky, and the Mail Louisville team will continue to operate from their Louisville location as a division of Graphic Village; the acquisition is part of growth activity by parent Revitalize Capital.

MSQ, the international marketing group backed by private equity partner LDC, has acquired Elmwood and merged it with its Holmes & Marchant agency to create a global design and brand experience powerhouse. The combined Elmwood will operate across hubs in London, New York, Shanghai and Singapore, expanding MSQ's design capabilities and geographic footprint to better serve large consumer and healthcare clients.

London-based reputation management consultancy Lansons has closed its acquisition of New York-based Intermarket Communications and rebranded the U.S. business as Lansons. The deal brings the firms' London and New York teams closer together to serve shared global clients and supports Lansons' broader global expansion of strategic communications capabilities.

Paragon Group has acquired the European business of DG3 from Resilience Capital Partners' portfolio company DG3. The deal transfers DG3's UK/European operations to Paragon Customer Communications, enabling DG3 to focus on growth and transformation of its US business while Paragon expands its customer communications capabilities across Europe.

JAL Equity has acquired Directional Advertising Solutions, Inc. (dba DAS Group), a Weston, Florida-based digital marketing firm, in a transaction that closed on November 30, 2021. DAS Group provides local digital marketing, lead generation and web development services to franchise organizations and multi-location national and regional brands; the sale enabled one partner to retire while the other remains involved.

MeritB2B, a Mountaingate Capital–backed provider of B2B data and performance marketing solutions, has acquired True Influence, a leader in B2B buyer intent data, ABM and demand generation technology. The acquisition (an add-on to the MeritB2B platform) combines data, analytics and AI-driven intent capabilities to create a full-funnel B2B marketing solutions provider and expands the combined organization's capabilities and global reach.

Signpost, a PE-backed marketing and communications platform for local/home-service businesses, has acquired Securus Contact Systems, a Portland-based live chat and live receptionist service. The deal was a sale by PennSpring Capital (which had owned Securus), and adds always-on chat and receptionist capabilities to Signpost's customer lifecycle and CRM offering.

Spotler Group has acquired UK-based Purepromoter Limited (trading as Pure360), a B2C-focused marketing automation and omnichannel email/personalisation platform. The deal adds Pure360’s technology, over 500 clients and consumer brand expertise to Spotler’s European marketing technology portfolio, accelerating the group’s expansion into the UK e-commerce and B2C markets.

Neptune Retail Solutions (NRS) acquired RevTrax, an offer-management and promotions marketing platform, with RevTrax’s founding leadership joining NRS’s executive team to accelerate integration. The deal aims to combine RevTrax’s AI-driven Offer Management Platform and first‑party data capabilities with NRS’s in‑store network and shopper data to expand personalization, fraud prevention and omnichannel promotional capabilities at scale.

Milwaukee-based SunAnt Interactive, LLC has acquired Alkon Consulting Group, Inc., a website design and internet marketing firm headquartered in Schererville, Indiana. The acquisition expands SunAnt's book of business and strengthens its Indiana/Illinois presence while adding web development, hosting and digital marketing clients and capabilities.

Acosta has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Premium Retail Services, a provider of tech-enabled retail merchandising, in-store sales and training, and retail analytics. The acquisition expands Acosta's omnichannel capabilities and presence in consumer electronics and drug channels and adds more than 9,000 Premium employees to Acosta's workforce.

NVM Private Equity has invested £14.8 million into The Salocin Group to fund the acquisition of customer data specialist Edit from Kin + Carta PLC. Edit, a data-powered marketing services business headquartered in Bath and London with 120+ employees and revenues above £12m, will partner with the Salocin Group and NVM to scale its marketing-technology, CRM, analytics and campaign management capabilities.

Prodege, a marketing and consumer insights platform that operates Swagbucks, MyPoints and Upromise, has signed a definitive agreement to receive a major growth investment from Great Hill Partners. The capital will support Prodege’s rapid organic expansion and targeted acquisition strategy while management and senior leadership retain significant ownership; financial terms were not disclosed.

Hop-on, Inc. (OTC: HPNN) announced it has acquired Vertuoso, a content marketing and ad‑tech agency founded in 2017. The acquisition will integrate Vertuoso’s vertical storytelling, ad‑tech and content development capabilities into Hop‑on’s Digitalage decentralized social media and entertainment platform to enhance mobile‑first advertising, personalization and immersive ad formats (AR/VR).

Scorpion, a provider of marketing technology and services for local businesses, has acquired MediaSmack, a boutique digital marketing agency serving law firms. The acquisition brings MediaSmack's legal-industry clients onto Scorpion's platform and expands Scorpion's specialized capabilities and client base in the legal sector.

NexPhase Capital has made a financial investment in Calcium, a mid-sized healthcare marketing agency, to support the agency's strategic growth while keeping the existing management team in place. The partnership provides Calcium with financial backing to strengthen and expand its strategic, creative, and digital capabilities to better serve life-science clients.