Meredith Corporation has completed its acquisition of mobile marketing company, The Hyperfactory. This follows a minority stake the company took in The Hyperfactory in July 2009. Terms were not disclosed.
After a year-long minority-stake partnership, senior management decided it was a successful venture, said Martin Reidy, president of Meredith Integrated Marketing.
The Hyperfactory’s brand, leadership and staff will remain intact, he said. “They already have a great brand that is well-recognized,” Reidy told DMNews.
The acquisition marks a building out of Meredith Integrated Marketing, the parent company’s business-to-business unit that focuses on custom marketing services for brands and corporations.
In terms of synergies, Reidy said Meredith Integrated Marketing gains a strong mobile foothold. He added that The Hyperfactory gains a bigger playground, with access to Meredith Integrated Marketing’s social media platform, its analytics capabilities and access to the healthcare space.
The Hyperfactory specializes in creative mobile campaigns. It was founded by Derek and Geoffrey Handley in 2001 in New Zealand, with offices in Auckland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and India. Clients on its roster include Coca-Cola, Blackberry, Disney and Kraft.
“Being a fully integrated member of Meredith Integrated Marketing will stimulate our own creative ideas, design and implementation capabilities — and also create opportunities for us to compete for a whole new tier of clients,” Handley said in a statement.
Since 2006, Meredith Integrated Marketing has placed several companies into its fold, including O’Grady Meyers, an interactive marketing and advertising agency; Genex, an interactive marketing services firm; New Media Strategies, a viral marketing company; Big Communications, a healthcare marketing communications company; and database strategy and analytics company, Directive.
As to why the full acquisition was made now, Reidy said: “This is the year of mobile. We’ll look back and view it as the beginning of this era.”
