Publicis Groupe Acquires US Digital Services Agency Engauge Marketing

Regulatory News:

Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris: FR0000130577) (Paris:PUB) announced today the acquisition of Engauge Marketing LLC, the advertising and digital services agency based in Columbus, Ohio. Halyard Capital, a New York-based private equity firm was the majority owner of Engauge Marketing.

Engauge provides full-service advertising and digital services with a burgeoning social marketing practice to more than 30 clients, including Nationwide Insurance, Cisco Systems, and The Coca-Cola Company. The agency has offices in Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta, Ga.; Orlando, Fla.; and Pittsburgh, Pa. and an employee base of more than 250 people.

Launched in 2007, Engauge was formed from the union of Ten United, a Columbus-based advertising agency with offices in Pittsburgh and Orlando; Spunlogic, a digital marketing services company in Atlanta; and Direct Impact, a data analytics and CRM company in Austin, Texas. These combined areas of expertise have given Engauge a strong position in an increasingly digitally-driven advertising services sector.

Engauge Marketing will become part of the ZenithOptimedia Group in the United States and will be aligned with Moxie, the Group’s digital advertising agency based in Atlanta. ZenithOptimedia Group will look to maximize operational synergies and complementary capabilities across the two organizations while maintaining the Engauge and Moxie brands in the marketplace.

Combined, Moxie and Engauge will have more than 600 employees and will comprise the largest array of digital marketing resources in the Southeast. These two leading digital companies will offer clients a fully-integrated advertising and digital organization with innovative services and solutions in the areas of strategy, creative, social marketing, media, data analytics and technology development.

Nick Bandy, CEO of Engauge said: "Over the past year, the leadership team of Engauge has explored ways to meet the challenges of the evolving and increasingly complex marketing landscape to ultimately help with our clients’ continued success. Through this discovery work we entered discussions with multiple companies across the advertising business. Where we found most accord and alignment with our mutual goals was with Publicis Groupe. We believe this change in ownership will enable us to meet our goals, provide long-term stability to our company, give access to world-class marketing resources, products, tools and apps, research, data and insight capability and, of course, access to a substantial talent pool across the world which for our people presents greatly enhanced career opportunities”.

Suzy Deering, CEO of Moxie, added: "By fusing Engauge’s expertise in social marketing together with Moxie’s capabilities and resources, we will be able to provide our clients with a stronger, multichannel, geographically-diverse company that is able to offer the best services and solutions all under one roof.”

Tim Jones, CEO of ZenithOptimedia Group, North America said: "This union expands the range of communication services we can provide to clients, particularly in social marketing and content marketing. Our digital operations in Atlanta are now market-leading in scale and in depth of resources. We’re excited by the range of resources this provides as we look to the future.”

About Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] is one of the world’s leading communications groups. We offer the full range of services and skills: digital (DigitasLBi, Razorfish, Rosetta, VivaKi), creative services (BBH, Leo Burnett, Publicis Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi), public affairs, corporate communications and events (MSLGROUP), media strategy, planning and buying (Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia) and healthcare communications, with Publicis Healthcare Communications Group (PHCG). Present in 108 countries, the Groupe employs 60,000 professionals.
www.publicisgroupe.com | Twitter:@PublicisGroupe | Facebook: www.facebook.com/publicisgroupe | Linkedin: Publicis Groupe | http://www.youtube.com/user/PublicisGroupe |

Viva la Difference !

About ZenithOptimedia

ZenithOptimedia is a leading global media services network with 250 offices in 74 countries. It is part of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications group, and the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group. As the first agency to apply a rigorous and objective approach to improving the effectiveness of marketing spend, ZenithOptimedia delivers to clients the best possible return on their communications investment. This philosophy is supported by a unique approach to strategy development and implementation – the Live ROI planning process.

ZenithOptimedia’s principal operations comprise the media services agencies Optimedia and Zenith; Performics, a global performance marketing services company; Ninah, a marketing investment modeling company; Newcast, a content integration specialist; and Moxie, a full-service digital marketing services agency.

Zenith North America’s client partners, include AstraZeneca, General Mills, Georgia-Pacific, JPMorgan Chase, Kohl's, Lexus, Nintendo, Oracle, Reckitt-Benckiser, Toyota, 20th Century Fox, and Verizon. Our ability to drive ROI begins with scale, and is backed by an unparalleled knowledge of the marketplace.
www.zenithoptimedia.com | Twitter:@ZenithOptimedia | Facebook: www.facebook.com/zenithoptimedia | Linkedin: ZenithOptimedia | The ROI Agency

About Engauge Marketing

Engauge is a full-service marketing agency for the digital and social age. They help grow clients’ businesses by leveraging creativity and technology to connect brands and consumers through the most relevant content and channels. The agency’s client roster includes Nationwide Insurance, Coca-Cola, Chick-fil-A, UPS and CiscoSystems. Engauge has offices in Atlanta, Columbus, Orlando, and Pittsburgh.

www.engauge.com | Twitter:@engauge | Facebook: www.facebook.com/engauge | Linkedin: Engauge

About Moxie

Driven by data, content and technology, Moxie is a full-service digital agency that creates attraction between people and brands, media and technology, and partners and platforms. Clients include: Verizon Wireless, Verizon FiOS, 20th Century Fox, Georgia-Pacific, L’Oreal USA, Central Garden & Pet, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, The Hallmark Channel and Epson.

Founded in 2000, Moxie has more than 350 driven, talented, digital professionals in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York. We are owned by ZenithOptimedia, which allows us to quickly leverage cross-company areas of expertise, talent, experience and tools. ZenithOptimedia is a leading global media services network with 250 offices in 74 countries. It is part of Publicis Groupe, the world’s third largest communications group and the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group. To find out more about all things Moxie, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter or our website or blog.
www.moxieinteractive.com | Twitter:@YouveGotMoxie | Facebook: www.facebook.com/MoxieInteractive | Linkedin: Moxie

About Halyard Capital

Halyard is a private equity firm with over $600 million of capital under management focused on creating value within the Information and Knowledge economies through our thesis-driven investments. We invest in Technology-enabled Information, Data Analytics, Communications and Business Services Companies that cater to industries including Healthcare, Education, Marketing Services, Human Capital Management and Media.

The Firm specializes in growth equity, middle-market leveraged buyouts and structured equity investments. Halyard invests in and works closely with exceptional management teams in companies with superior market positions which generate strong cash flow and operate in attractive growth markets.
http://www.halyard.com |