Millward Brown Digital buys US based InsightExpress
Millward Brown, one of the largest brand and media consulting agencies, has acquired InsightExpress, a U.S. based provider of media analytics for brand marketers. InsightExpress will be integrated into Millward Brown’s Digital business unit. Financial details on the transaction have not been disclosed.
InsightExpress, founded in 1999, has 100 employees across offices in San Francisco, New York and Chicago. The firm provides clients with marketing analytics solutions that enable them to quantify the return on marketing investment for online, mobile, tablet and cross-media campaigns.
Millward Brown, part of Kantar, that on its turn is part of the world’s largest marketing conglomerate WPP, operates in 55 countries with three brands: Millward Brown Digital, Firefly Millward Brown en Millward Brown Vermeer. The latter label was just recently added, following the purchase and rebranding of Dutch marketing specialist EffectiveBrands into Millward Brown Vermeer.
The acquisition of InsightExpress is in line with Millward Brown’s strategy to boost its capabilities and market share in the digital landscape, one of the fastest growing segments in the marketing space. “With the addition of InsightExpress, we are taking another step in helping marketers ‘get digital right’ by providing faster, more granular analysis of cross-platform advertising effectiveness,” Stephen DiMarco, President of Millward Brown Digital.
As part of the transaction, InsightExpress co-CEOs Drew Lipner and Marc Ryan will join the leadership team of Millward Brown Digital. “We’re excited to join Millward Brown Digital. With award-winning technology and the largest attitudinal and behavioral consumer dataset of its kind, we look forward to continuing to innovate measurement by introducing new and unique solutions to help brand marketers with planning, targeting, attribution and ROI accountability. The breadth of our data and analytics, the depth of our digital, media and brand insights, and our global reach are unmatched in the industry,” comments Ryan, who has been granted the role of Chief Research & Development Officer.
