Google Sells Performics Search Marketing Unit to Publicis Groupe

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 6, 2008 - 9:26am.

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to well its Performics search marketing business France's Publicis Groupe.

Financial terms of the transaction, expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed.

Launched in 1998, Chicago-based Performics offers a range of services intended to help improve the performance of advertisers' investments and maximize campaign effectiveness.

Publicis said the deal will strengthen its VivaKi unit, launched last June, which includes performance marketing assets Phonevalley, Webformance, Click2Sales and iBase.

"Publicis Groupe has been a leader in the advertising industry for decades, and we believe Performics' growing business will benefit from being part of it," said Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt.

"We look forward to working with Performics as a partner."

http://www.publicisgroupe.com

http://www.performics.com

Published in DMW Daily, August 6, 2008

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Comments

A good deal for Publicis

Submitted by Jason Baer (not verified) on August 6, 2008 - 11:41am.

Publicis has stated that they want 25% of their overall revenue to come from digital by 2012, and this acquisition will help make that a reality. There’s not that many serious search marketing agencies that have the scale necessary to fit in with Publicis, it’s still a very fragmented market, so the Performics acquisition makes sense. Plus, Google and Publicis have a long-standing cross-functional relationship, including sharing of executives and intellectual property. Interesting that many smaller, traditional agencies totally eschew search marketing as “too complex” and “not worth it”. I wonder if this acquisition will change some minds in that regard? I just wrote a post with more commentary and context: “The Truth About Publicis Buying Performics.” Jason Baer Convince & Convert - Digital consulting for agencies http://www.convinceandconvert.com/convince-convert-digital-marketing-blo...