Accenture Buys Data-Driven Marketing Agency Wire Stone

Accenture Interactive, the management consultancy's customer experience arm, has acquired US marketing agency Wire Stone, adding data-driven customer insight and personalized services to its digital marketing capabilities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 2000, Wire Stone delivers marketing strategies and solutions based on customer insight and an understanding of the consumer lifecycle. Its practice areas include customer profiling; content strategy; social media; and 'closed-loop measurement', using customer data to understand how digital marketing impacts sales, both off- and online. Accenture Interactive says Wire Stone's nearly 200 employees in the US will add 'significant scale' to its headcount in North America.

Wire Stone is the division's fourteenth buy in the last five years. These include Clearhead, a provider of data-driven user experience design, product development, analytics and strategic consulting solutions; data-driven communications agency Karmarama; and SinnerSchrader, which analyses online user behavior to develop digital products and services.

Dan Lynch (pictured), CEO of Wire Stone, comments: 'By bringing our creative and digital marketing talent and expertise together with Accenture Interactive, we are now able to deliver end-to-end solutions for clients utilizing their deep industry expertise and intimate relationships. We believe this winning combination is a pivotal moment for our clients and our teams, as we continue to push the boundaries of creating remarkable customer experiences'.

Web sites: www.accentureinteractive.com and www.wirestone.com .