Global advertising giant Publicis announced today that it is acquiring RUN, a data management platform that enables multi-channel programmatic ad buying.
The acquisition is the latest in a long line of digital platforms acquired by Publicis, as it continues to march towards its goal of getting 50% of its revenues from digital work by 2018. In addition to its stable of digitally focused companies such as ZenithOptimedia, Razorfish and DigitasLBi, Publicis also recently struck a deal with Adobe’s Digital Marketing Cloud, which would allow it to use Adobe’s marketing solutions on behalf of its clients for multi-channel, analytics based campaigns.
RUN’s capabilities are especially geared towards mobile. Its platform collects customer data from multiple sources such as cellular carriers and internet service providers, compiling information on location, CRM activities, behavior and demographics. It currently houses over 800 million unique global customer profiles. In addition to collecting the data, the RUN platform allows users to access it for customer targeting, and programmatic media buying across multiple channels and devices.
RUN will be aligned with Publicis’ Starcom MediaVest Group, and deployed as a resource for its entire network of companies by Publicis’ ad tech solutions unit Vivaki.
“This acquisition will accelerate Publicis Groupe’s digital capabilities in the mobile space,” said Laura Desmond, Global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group in a statement. “The role of the agency has changed, we are no longer negotiating on traditional currencies, we’re negotiating on data and technologies.”
