Friday, January 14, 2005

The Other Way Around..

Lately Ive been reading about search engines and SE marketing cos looking to buy ad agencies to enhance their business but I wondered (until now) if there were any ad agencies that wanted to buy (or own) a search engine/SE marketing co.

From NetImperative WPP rebrands search marketing division.

AdvancePostions.com, the search engine marketing firm owned by advertising giant WPP, has rebranded as mSearch.

The firm say it is able to offer search marketing services for both multinational brands and clients in local markets.

Its services will range from pay-per-click management and bid management to natural search optimisation, as well as offering an SEM consultancy service for its clients.
mSearch will inherit the client portfolio of its previous brand, including IBM, Ford, Sony, Cahoot and Abbey, and will work across 47 countries.

Richard Collins, worldwide CEO of mSearch said: "AdvancePositions.com was a dotcom brand, and we felt it didn't encapsulate the global reach of our specialist SEM business. In recent months there has been a definite consolidation and globalisation of the market, and mSearch is ideally placed to take leadership."

AdvancePositions was founded in the UK in 1998 and was acquired by WPP in February 2000 to form part of OglivyOne. In July 2003, the interactive divisions of Mindshare and OglivyOne combined to become mOne.

mSearch now becomes mOne's specialist search marketing division. Mike Chowney, former MD of AdvancePositions.com, has been appointed head of international at mSearch, and will oversee the company's global expansion and re-branding strategy.

The company has partnerships with software vendors and major search engines, which include Google, Yahoo!, Overture and Espotting.

Never thought of it from this angle. I guess I figured the valuations would be out of wack to buy one. Let me know if I'm off base on this.

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