iCrossing Crossing Pond

US digital marketing agency iCrossing has bought UK-based Spannerworks. Both firms specialise in search engine marketing (SEM) but both have a growing interest in insight and analytics, including the measurement of online 'buzz' surrounding brands and its impact on client firms.

Spannerworks' brand will remain, and the firm says it will 'aggressively hunt for new talent to branch out across Europe'. The current management team led by CEO and Founder Arjo Ghosh will stay in place. Terms of the deal have not been released but Ghosh told the web site www.e-consultancy.com that the deal was worth 'well in excess' of rumoured figures of £9-10 million, which possibly stemmed from the amount of iCrossing latest round of funding ($18m).

iCrossing, whose staff will now number around 350, features a board of 'industry heavyweights' including CEO and founder Jeff Herzog, President and COO Donald Scales, and Chairman Richard Rosenblatt, former Chairman of the Board at MySpace. The buyer's clients include The Coca Cola Company, LEGO, and General Motors.

Ghosh says iCrossing was chosen from a number of interested parties as 'a company that understood search and its importance in digital marketing, with a range of products and services to complement our own.'

According to Herzog, 'iCrossing and Spannerworks share a common vision for creating search marketing strategies and programs that influence consumer behaviour, improve brand visibility and deliver quantifiable results.

Spannerworks was founded in 1997, employs 70 people in its Brighton office and is online at www.spannerworks.com . iCrossing is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco, and a web site at www.icrossing.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.