Dentsu Aegis' iProspect Buys Attribution Shop Rockett Interactive

Dentsu Aegis's iProspect has acquired digital boutique Rockett Interactive as the agency network aims to strengthen its performance-marketing offering. "Their core [specialty] is attribution modeling," said Nigel Morris, CEO of Dentsu Aegis for the Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa region. "By taking them and fitting them into an ecosystem of performance marketing you can leverage what they've got and fast-track a capability which is actually opening up more budgets." The shop's attribution capability is meant to help the network determine where digital ad dollars should be spent and why, added iProspect CEO Jeremy Cornfeldt. "It's not necessarily pitching itself as a display or search shop," he said. "It's attribution that helps it do other things better. It's appealing that that's at the core of their offering." The IAB defines attribution as the measurement of the value of each digital marketing contact that contributed to a desired outcome, allowing marketers to more clearly understand what's working and what's not. The goal is partly to see whether certain ads played a part in an eventual sale even if that sale didn't immediately follow the ads' delivery. The deal follows iProspect's acquisition of larger performance-marketing shop Covario, which was complimentary to iProspect both geographically and on a client basis, said iProspect CEO Jeremy Cornfeldt. Covario touted a global presence, over 140 staffers and an SEO software unit in San Diego. Rockett on the other hand, which has under 30 staffers, is less a scale play than a capability play for iProspect and the larger Dentsu Aegis network. Mark Rockett founded the firm in 2003 after over five years at the Martin Agency in various media planning roles. iProspect will absorb the Rockett brand and name Mr. Rockett senior VP of attribution. Rockett is Dentsu Aegis' 18th acquisition in 2014, and its 33rd acquisition since Japanese holding company Dentsu acquired the Aegis media agency network in March 2013. In 2014, Dentsu Aegis' acquisitions have spanned a number of disciplines and markets, including the US, UK, South Africa, India, Brazil, Poland, Kazakhstan, France, China and Germany.

Dentsu Aegis' iProspect Buys Attribution Shop Rockett Interactive

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