In August, around the time of Rozen’s departure, iProspect absorbed Merkle Media, the practice within Merkle serving clients like Albertsons and furniture retailer Ashley. Now combined with Merkle Media, iProspect has overtaken Carat as the group’s largest media agency, at least by revenue and headcount.
This, combined with Dentsu’s global reach, makes iProspect a reasonable fit for a brand like Ferrero. That would not necessarily have been the case previously, as Carat tended to compete for the group’s largest business opportunities.
As data and audience targeting solutions continue to be deciding factors in agency reviews, audience targeting platforms and technology like Dentsu Media’s Merkury platform (formerly called M1) are highly important to marketers, underscoring what’s driving some of these changes. Reardon has said he plans to relaunch Merkury officially later this year.
After iProspect absorbed Merkle Media, it named former Merkle chief media officer Liz Rutgersson its new North America CEO, a move that further illustrated iProspect’s importance to Dentsu Media’s Merkle integration strategy.
“This move brings the Merkle approach to media, combines it with the historical performance routes that iProspect is so well known for, and accelerates that connection between Merkle and what we can offer from a media perspective,” Rutgersson told ADWEEK at the time.
The media group’s begun attracting new business. Papa Johns is another high-profile client, which in November named Carat its U.S. media AOR. As iProspect’s largest account, Ferrero’s work with the agency will showcase what a revamped Dentsu Media can offer a global brand.
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