M&A transaction completes integrated agency’s digital / social / mobile offering and adds cloud-based social media campaign application
NEW YORK – M&A advisory firm AdMedia Partners, Inc. is pleased to announce that it acted as the exclusive financial advisor to PulsePoint Group, a management and digital consulting firm, in its acquisition by Olson, one of the top five independent full-service digital agencies in North America.
“It’s critical for all of our offerings to be ‘best alone, and even better together,’”
The addition of PulsePoint’s strategic expertise and tools further strengthens Olson’s well-established digital creative and executional capabilities. Olson Chief Executive Officer John Partilla said Olson chose PulsePoint because of the caliber of the agency’s talent, a client list that includes blue-chip brands such as Toyota, Novartis and Delta Air Lines, and its outstanding proprietary tools such as the cloud-based Social Media Accelerator application, which helps marketers develop strategic social media plans to achieve specific campaign objectives.
The deal pushes Olson’s total revenue past $100 million. With more than 70% of that revenue derived from digital and social-media work, that size ranks Olson in the top five independent agencies by digital revenue.
PulsePoint’s 26 employees bring Olson’s total to approximately 500 across its offices in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Toronto, San Francisco and now Austin and Los Angeles.
PulsePoint, for its part, had been looking for a partner to help bring its strategic recommendations to life. PulsePoint Founding Partners Jeff Hunt and Bob Feldman said Olson’s work for clients such as Target, General Mills, Best Buy, MillerCoors and Wrigley made it an ideal fit.
“We take our clients through the strategy, work through change management, and then hand-off the execution,” Hunt said. “Now with Olson, our clients can access a world-class offering in mobile, social engagement, technology integration, execution and 1to1, which is something no other potential partnership presented.”
Partilla said Olson’s desire to offer best-in-class, pure-play offerings in different marketing disciplines that can be brought together in a powerful, integrated solution made PulsePoint an obvious choice. Since late October, Olson’s PR and Social Media arm, Olson Engage, was named a finalist for PR Week’s Midsize Agency of the Year, and its Loyalty/CRM arm, Olson 1to1, was labeled one of the “eight loyalty providers that matter” by Forrester Research.
“It’s critical for all of our offerings to be ‘best alone, and even better together,’” he said. “PulsePoint Group allows us to continue to deliver on that promise, and it brings tools and resources that will be valued by clients across our entire agency.”
About PulsePoint Group
PulsePoint Group is a management and digital consulting firm that provides insight, strategy development and strategic execution for communications and marketing management challenges, with a special focus on social and digital engagement. For more information, visit pulsepointgroup.com.
About Olson
Olson is one of the top five independent, full-service digital agencies in North America. With a digital core and deep expertise in digital advertising, 1:1, PR, social and mobile, the more than 500-person-strong agency builds community and creates advocacy for some of the world’s most respected brand marketers, including Best Buy, General Mills, MillerCoors, Target and Wrigley. Olson has offices in Minneapolis, Austin, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. For more information, visit olson.com, join us at facebook.com/Olsonagency and follow us on Twitter at @Olsonagency.
About AdMedia Partners
Founded in 1990, AdMedia is a leading M&A advisory firm serving the marketing services, advertising, marketing technology, media and information sectors. AdMedia has completed over 180 transactions for clients valued in excess of $8 billion since 1999. For more information, visit www.admediapartners.com.
