Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a division of holding company Omnicom Group, acquired consumer insight research company Communispace on February 7.
Watertown, MA-based Communispace builds online communities to conduct market research. The company also tests client initiatives and generates customer feedback using proprietary social media tools. It has created and managed more than 400 customer communities for more than 100 clients in the 12 years since it launched.
“There is not a company that does what they do at the level of sophistication and depth that they do it,” said Thomas Harrison, chairman and CEO of DAS.
Harrison added that the acquisition will broaden DAS’ digital communications and market research services. DAS manages holdings in various marketing disciplines for Omnicom, which has more than 500 clients.
“It’s becoming important to us and to our clients to develop consumer panels to do very quick research and gain targeted insights from the would-be consumer,” he said. “That insight powers the creative and strategic recommendations we go back to our clients with.”
Communispace will continue to operate independently, and Diane Hessan will continue to serve as the company’s president and CEO. There will be no layoffs as a result of the deal, said Harrison.
Although the five-month acquisition process just ended, Harrison said the firms have been reaching out to clients to inform them of the pending deal. The companies share more than 20 clients.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
