Aegis Acquires iProspect for $50M

UPDATE: Top SEM firm will be foundation for Aegis' search practices in 24 countries.

UK-based Aegis Group announced today that it has acquired privately held search engine marketing firm iProspect for $50 million.

The deal will give Aegis 100 percent of the SEM firm’s equity, which was previously held by its founders. Aegis will pay $32 million in cash and $18 million in deferred cash over two years, subject to iProspect’s performance.

iProspect will continue on as a standalone brand, keeping all 85 employees, including founder and CEO Fredrick Marckini and president Robert Murray. The company also plans to aggressively hire to meet its expanded needs, Marckini said.

Watertown, Mass.-based iProspect will become part of Isobar, Aegis’ umbrella brand created in July 2004 to house its worldwide digital and one-to-one assets, which include Boston’s Carat Interactive, Korea’s Agency W, Australia’s One Digital, and China’s WWWINS. This is Isobar’s first acquisition in the U.S. market, and the seventh for Isobar globally in the past six months. Aegis’ media operations are held under the Bizeum brand, and its research is under the Synovate brand.

“We believe that iProspect and search engine marketing fit hand-in-glove with Isobar’s vision of the future of digital marketing,” Marckini said. “Most importantly, our new place within the Isobar family will give us global reach and a direct affiliation with some of the world’s most talented and innovative digital agencies.”

According to Sarah Fay, president of Carat Interactive and Isobar U.S., Isobar’s worldwide network sets it apart from other agencies, and iProspect’s expertise, training practices, and technology will help those worldwide agencies develop their own search practices. iProspect’s iSEBA search marketing tool provides PPC bid management, campaign tracking and reporting.

iProspect has been running campaigns in other countries and languages since 1998, but the demand has only heated up in the past year, Marckini said. The company’s technology and processes for optimizing campaigns can be universally applied, since search engine algorithms don’t change from country to country. The challenge has been in working with keywords in multiple languages. That’s where Isobar’s local agencies will be able to take the lead, he said.

iProspect topped a list of organic optimization leaders in a recent JupiterResearch report, and was named a challenger in paid listings.

Fay said this move signals a growing movement toward the mainstream for SEM. “We believe that search engine marketing will become a fundamental part of mainstream marketing. It already represents more than 30 percent of online advertising spend in the U.S., and is a key driver in our industry’s growth,” Fay said.

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Whitepapers

US Mobile Streaming Behavior
Whitepaper | Mobile

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

5y

US Mobile Streaming Behavior

Streaming has become a staple of US media-viewing habits. Streaming video, however, still comes with a variety of pesky frustrations that viewers are ...

View resource
Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups
Whitepaper | Analyzing Customer Data

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics for Media Groups

5y

Winning the Data Game: Digital Analytics Tactics f...

Data is the lifeblood of so many companies today. You need more of it, all of which at higher quality, and all the meanwhile being compliant with data...

View resource
Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its people
Whitepaper | Digital Marketing

Learning to win the talent war: how digital marketing can develop its peopl...

2y

Learning to win the talent war: how digital market...

This report documents the findings of a Fireside chat held by ClickZ in the first quarter of 2022. It provides expert insight on how companies can ret...

View resource
Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy
Report | Digital Transformation

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Experience Economy

1m

Engagement To Empowerment - Winning in Today's Exp...

Customers decide fast, influenced by only 2.5 touchpoints – globally! Make sure your brand shines in those critical moments. Read More...

View resource