Dachis Amps up Youth Focus With Acquisition of Archrival

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Dachis Group, a social media consultancy based in Austin, TX, is hoping to amp up its youth marketing cred with the acquisition of Archrival, a social media outreach firm and one of the 14 original Facebook "preferred developers."

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Combined, the two companies boast about 150 employees and nine offices, including Archrival's Lincoln, NE headquarters.

Archrival is known for developing youth-oriented smart phone apps, videos and Facebook pages for brands like Red Bull, ESPN and Hormel Foods. Among Archrival's work for Red Bull was Red Bull Stash, a promotion that sent consumers looking for hidden stashes of the drink around the country using clues provided via Facebook and a smartphone app.

Despite knowing how important youth outreach is, "most companies aren’t prepared to actually connect and communicate with youth culture," said Clint Runge, co-founder and creative director of Archrival, in a written statement. His company's approach, he said, went "beyond advertising" to make the connection.

Existing Dachis clients include American Express, AOL, AT&T, Bud Light and Calvin Klein. Archrival will continue to function under its own name, but will add "a Dachis company."

Facebook launched its Preferred Developer program in December to 2009 to help connect marketers with developers that had a history of creating reliable content for the site.