Publicis Buys Mars United

Publicis has acquired marketing company Mars United Commerce, among other things bringing the global marcoms group a wealth of proprietary data on shoppers and shopping behavior, and on media performance.

Founded in the 1970s and now led by CEO Rob Rivenburgh (pictured), Mars United is described as the world's largest independent commerce marketing company, with more than 1,000 employees based in 14 hubs worldwide. The firm has its own proprietary commerce insights platform.

The firms says the combination will create 'the world's leading connected commerce solution, allowing clients to plan and activate through the full marketing funnel and increase sales at the point of purchase'. This will involve integrating (Publicis subsidiary) Epsilon's first-person identity data with Mars United's proprietary data on shoppers and shopping behavior, promising clients '360-degree insight into purchase journeys and new opportunities to motivate shopper behavior change'. Mars United's dataset on commerce media performance will also be combined with insights into ecommerce sales and operations from Publicis' digital shelf platform Profitero, which will give clients a rounded view of marketing performance online and off-line.

Rivenburgh (pictured) says the deal 'will help Mars realize our vision of being the preeminent global commerce company faster and more completely'.Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun comments: 'We are delighted to be welcoming Rob and his incredible teams at Mars to Publicis Groupe. Their innovative spirit and proprietary platforms will further connect and complement our existing capabilities, to deliver industry-leading, end-to-end commerce solutions for our clients, both online and offline. With the acquisition of Influential this summer, and now Mars, Publicis is uniquely positioned to help our clients understand both existing consumers and future prospects, and connect that knowledge at an individual level to the new media channels that work hardest for their business: Connected TV, Commerce and Creators'.

The deal valued Mars United at around $600m, according to a source quoted in the Wall Street Journal.

Web site: www.publicis.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.