In the wake of the transaction, Art Muldoon and Matt Greitzer, the CEO and COO of Accordant, respectively, will oversee the combined programmatic marketing business for Dentsu in the US, under the Aegis banner. That group will be housed under the Amnet trading desk operation at Dentsu Aegis, which also includes Carat, iProspect, 360i and Dentsu Media. "Part of the benefit of Accordant and Amnet combining is the team," Greitzer said. "They have a great team and we do too. But we also have the technology platform, which we've always used for our client base and which will now give the Amnet client base more of a hands-on ownership of and access to data and the technology that makes that data powerful." With the deal, Dentsu extends a streak of data-driven advertising moves in the US. Its acquisitions of Merkle and Accordant follow its first major entry into the US and European markets three years ago, with the acquisition of Aegis. Merkle employs 650 clients globally, including 100 in its digital media roles. Accordant employs approximately 70, according to LinkedIn. "To Dentsu's credit, they are serious about winning this race and you don't win on rented skis. They just bought a pretty great pair of skis," JEGI co-President Tolman Geffs said. Alison Weissbrot contributed.
Dentsu has acquired Accordant, the programmatic technology and service company, for an undisclosed amount. Dentsu's combined programmatic marketing business will see Accordant housed under the Aegis banner, along with Amnet, Carat, iProspect, 360i and Dentsu Media. The acquisition of Accord follows a recent announcement by Dentsu, which announced that it would acquire the digital advertising company AdMob in August.