Dentsu's IgnitionOne Buys Ad Exchange

IgnitionOne - the digital marketing technology arm of Japanese ad giant Dentsu - has bought ad exchange AdJug for an undisclosed sum. The agency says the combination should give clients simplified buying, targeting and measurement of online advertising.

From its offices in London, Munich and Bangalore, AdJug serves three billion+ ad impressions per month to more than 67 million unique users; and uses data aggregation to build re-targeting segments.

IgnitionOne's existing Digital Marketing Suite (DMS) - which measures online advertising across search engines, web sites and Facebook - will be integrated with AdJug's 'Dynamic Creative Technology' (DCT), which customizes advertising creative in real-time, based on people's interests and web behavior.

As part of the deal, AdJug co-founders Michael Stephanblome and Satish Jayakumar will join IgnitionOne's executive team. Stephanblome was previously MD of Gumtree.com and ran marketing for eBay in Germany, Austria and Switzerland; while Jayakumar was the Director of European Strategy for MIVA and the founder of contextual advertising platform Nixxie.com.

Internet group Tomorrow Focus will retain a 20% share in AdJug and advise the company as it expands across Europe.

Stephanblome comments: 'Our DCT combined with IgnitionOne's audience scoring technology, will give our customers better response, greater reach and efficiencies through the industry's most advanced online advertising platform.'

The acquisition increases IgnitionOne's global footprint to nine offices in Asia, Europe, the Indian subcontinent and the US, employing more than 200 people.

Web sites: www.ignitionone.com and www.adjug.com .

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