Stripes Group Closes $25 Million Minority Growth Investment in eMarketer

Stripes Group has completed a $25 million minority investment in eMarketer (emarketer.com), a business information provider covering digital marketing, media and commerce.

Stripes’ equity stake was acquired by purchasing a portion of the equity held by early eMarketer investors, including the company’s major shareholder, Beehive Ventures, LLC, and the company’s founders. This recapitalization is designed to provide liquidity for long-time shareholders and support the rapid growth of eMarketer.

http://library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1103262434462-16/Stripes+Group_eMarketer+Press+Release_Jan2012.pdf

MDC Partners Picks Up RJ Palmer

RJ PALMER, a leading independent media agency, is being acquired by MDC Partners in a deal that underscores the growing importance to marketers of media services in a digital age.

RJ Palmer is based in New York and handles accounts with billings estimated at more than $800 million for brands like Ben & Jerry’s, sold by Unilever; Build-A-Bear Workshop; the footwear retailer DSW; Dulcolax, Flomax, Spiriva and Zantac, from Boehringer Ingelheim; Keurig, sold by Green Mountain Coffee; Lunesta, from Sunovion; Perdue Farms; Sherwin-Williams; and Sports Illustrated, published by the Time Inc. division of Time Warner.

The services provided to clients by RJ Palmer include media planning and buying as well as branded entertainment, which is focused on helping to incorporate brands into programming like television shows.

The deal, which is to be formally announced on Thursday, will cost MDC an estimated $25 million, including additional considerations based on future performance. RJ Palmer will operate as a stand-alone division of MDC; all of its senior managers and 70 employees are to continue with the agency.

RJ Palmer has offices in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in addition to its headquarters in New York. The senior managers at RJ Palmer who will remain after the sale include, in addition to Mr. Knobloch, Jim Vail, president; Pete Regan, chief operating officer; Peter Stieglitz, chief financial officer; and Vince Laraia, president of Trade X Media.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/business/media/mdc-partners-picks-up-rj-palmer.html

Adobe, Looking To Grab Rising Online Video Ad Dollars, Buys Auditude

Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) is continuing to build its advertising business through major acquisitions and this time, it’s buying Auditude, which operates a platform for managing online video ads. Terms of the deal, Adobe’s third since buying online analytics firm Omniture (NSDQ: OMTR) for $1.8 billion two years ago, weren’t disclosed.

It’s been noted many times that online video is the fastest growing segment of internet advertising. This year, U.S. online video advertising revenues of around $2 billion, eMarketer says, while the total online ad market will be about $30 billion. Video is attractive to advertisers for obvious reasons: it tends to command more attention than text or audio alone, and therefore provides the kinds of engagement metrics that brand marketers value.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-adobe-looking-to-grab-rising-online-video-ad-dollars-buys-auditude/

Barclays: Lower Ad Growth For '12

In a new report, Barclays Capital is calling 2012 a “low growth environment” for the ad agency business. The financial firm is forecasting that agency organic revenue growth next will average 2.9%, down sharply from the 5.6% that the firm believes agencies will achieve in 2011.

 

Barclays also cited what it termed the “Wal-Mart Effect” on advertising, which it described as the shift of ad dollars from local to national media, as big marketers continue to seek greater efficiencies from their marketing budgets.

“National advertising has been gaining share of the total spending pie steadily since 1980, driven by the consolidation of media and advertising companies, not to mention the consolidation of corporate America,” the Barclays report stated. “We expect national advertising will represent approximately 38% of total U.S. advertising expenditures this year, up from 25% in 1980. Local advertising has lost 19 percentage points of share during this time.”

The firm reiterated its total U.S. ad spend growth projections for 2011 and 2012 of 1.4% and 4.0% respectively, which in both cases, is below the firm’s estimates for U.S. nominal GDP growth of 4% and 5%.
Those forecasts are directionally in line with other recent ad spend predictions. Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia, for example, estimates that 2011 U.S. spending will be up 2.2%, while 2012 growth will reach 3.5%.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/164379/barclays-lower-ad-growth-for-12.html#ixzz1jdfGo7YS

Coupon Value drops

Some 272 billion free-standing insert (FSI) coupons were distributed in 2011 -- a decline of 6.5% from 2010, according to estimates released today by WPP’s Kantar Media unit.

The 2011 decline follows two consecutive years of annual increases, including a 7.2% gain in 2010 and an 8.0% gain in 2009.

The decrease may be a positive indicator for the advertising marketplace, since marketers historically shift budgets from brand-building advertising into consumer price promotions during periods of weak consumer demand. During 2011, Kantar estimated the value of the coupons distributed was worth more than $421 billion in consumer price incentives.

Another strong indicator: the average “face value” of coupon offers did not increase during 2011. It actually declined slightly from 2010. At $1.55, the average face value per coupon distributed in 2011 was down 0.2% from 2010.

Coupled with declines in another important metric -- the average expiration time per coupon offer, which fell 5.2% from 2010 -- this indicates "that manufacturers are managing their financial exposure by maintaining current offer values, reducing the number of coupons distributed, and shortening the length of time that these offers are available in the market,” Kantar said.


Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/165126/marketers-hold-the-promo-line-in-2011-coupon-volu.html#ixzz1jdeZqY7v

Corbis to Acquire NMA Group

Corbis, the digital media company owned by Bill Gates that licenses the intellectual property rights to photographs, music and public personalities, is expanding again by acquiring the NMA Group in Los Angeles, a pioneer in the realm of branded entertainment, which helps marketers weave products into the plots of movies and television shows.

Clients of NMA, also known as Norm Marshall & Associates, include General Motors, Heineken, Puma, the SodaStream soda maker and the Xbox unit of Microsoft. The acquisition is to be announced on Monday.

“This will greatly expand our ability to offer advertisers ways to more closely affiliate with branded entertainment,” said Gary Shenk, chief executive at Corbis in Seattle.

NMA, which also has offices in New York and London, will operate as an autonomous unit of the entertainment division of Corbis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/business/media/corbis-to-acquire-nma-group.html?_r=1

SolutionSet Media Whiz acquires D.L. Ryan

SolutionSet MediaWhiz has snapped up D.L. Ryan Cos., which owns shopper firm Ryan Partnership, among others.

The deal marks the creation of a new-school holding company. The companies will combine their efforts in Hyper Marketing, an umbrella company that will comprise Solution Set, MediaWhiz, Ryan Partnership and Catapult. Lake Capital, a private-equity firm in Chicago that bought a stake in SolutionSet in 2006, will have the majority interest in Hyper Marketing, with the remainder held by senior executives.

According to the Ad Age DataCenter, in 2010, D.L. Ryan Cos. had revenue of $105.7 million, MediaWhiz had $36.4 million and SolutionSet had $83.1 million. But Mr. Raj estimates the companies' combined revenue at a little north of $400 million.
 
The deal adds 600 employees to SolutionSet MediaWhiz, while Hyper Marketing has a workforce of more than 1,300 people in 19 cities. Its activities include direct and digital marketing, digital media-planning and buying, and shopper marketing and promotions.
 

Mr. Raj describes what he is building as a "future-driven model" willing to leave the companies under its umbrella discrete. At the same time, however, Hyper Marketing won't be hands off but will put together cross-unit solutions for clients when asked. Those clients include AT&T , American Express, Adidas, Cisco, Dell , eBay, Energizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Kellogg's, Office Depot, The Home Depot and Unilever .

http://adage.com/article/agency-news/solutionset-mediawhiz-buys-shopper-marketing-firm-d-l-ryan/232008/