Harte-Hanks Buys UK's Information Arts

US-based direct marketing giant Harte-Hanks has acquired British data-driven marketing insight business Information Arts. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

High Wycombe-headquartered Information Arts delivers insight from profiling, segmentation and modelling of data, and other analytics, while also offering marketing data management, hygiene, acquisition and planning.

Since 2008, the firm has had the sole right to sell Harte-Hanks' Ci Technology Database (CiTDB), which contains profiles of millions of IT decision makers. As part of the agreement, Hart-Hanks was offered the option of acquiring Information Arts at a later date.

Information Arts will now operate as a business unit of Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing under its current leadership of Simon Lawrence (pictured) and Gary Selby, who founded the firm in 2000.

'We believe that Information Arts is one of the best data analytics and insight companies in Europe, and we are delighted to have Simon and Gary on our team,' states Robert Howells, Group MD, International, Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing. 'All over the world we are committed to providing our customers with more and better insight on their marketing data and effectiveness, which will enable them to do true multichannel marketing. Information Arts will help us do that.'

Web sites: www.harte-hanks.com and www.information-arts.com .