French holdco Publicis Groupe has entered into an agreement to buy adtech identity player Lotame.
The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed but Publicis said it has spent more than US$1.5 billion (AU$.237 billion) on acquisitions over the last six months—including its acquisition of indie media agency Atomic 212°.
Lotame’s proprietary identity solution delivers audiences across 109 countries built on more than 100 data sources and activated through more than 1.6 billion IDs, for over 4,000 brands and publishers.
Publicis said the resulting combined data and identity assets will enable clients to reach 91 per cent of adult internet users with personalised messaging at scale with greater accuracy.
It also said that Lotame will will drive the APAC and EMEA expansion of Epsilon, continuing to work with publishers, data partners, and brands across the regions. Lotame was already Publicis’ data partner in both regions and helping to power CoreAI applications. Publicis also plans to expand its publisher network by integrating Lotame with Epsilon’s first-party tagging system to help publishers navigate cookie deprecation.
In a video giving an update on Publicis’ AI strategy, Arthur Sadoun Chairman and CEO Publicis Groupe, gave an example of how the tech will power smarter marketing.
“Let’s meet Lola. At the base level, we know who Lola is, what she watches, what she reads and who she lives with. Through the power of connected identity, we also know who she follows on social media, what she buys online and offline, where she buys, when she buys and more importantly, why she buys,’ he said.
“We know that Lola has two children and that her kids drink a lot of premium juice. We can see that the price of the SKU that she buys has been steadily rising on her local retailer’s shelf. We can also see that Lola’s income has not been keeping pace with inflation. With CoreAI, we can predict that Lola has a high propensity to trade down to private label. So rather than continuing with messaging for our client’s premium brand to Lola, we immediately switch to promote the value brand in their portfolio. Now she sees refreshed content across all screens. Thanks to CoreAI, we can do that with 91 per cent of adults around the world.”
In prepared statements announcing the acquisition, Sadoun added.
“In the age of AI, the name of the game is connect or die,” said Arthur Sadoun Chairman and CEO Publicis Groupe.
“By connecting that best-in-class identity to our clients’ data thanks to AI, and leveraging it across their marketing spectrum, from their PESO media ecosystem to content production, all in their owned environments, we are truly delivering measurable outcomes for their business.
“It’s how we are making CoreAI a reality, and how we’ve built a category of one for Publicis that means today we are the world’s largest advertising group, leading the industry on every KPI.
“As we continue to invest in the products, services and talent that drive differentiation and growth for our clients, I couldn’t be happier to welcome Andy and the outstanding teams at Lotame on board.”
Andy Monfried, Lotame CEO said: “We have a rich history of innovation, building out our global data marketplace and scaling our identity solution to become among the most trusted and adopted in the industry. We are beyond thrilled to join Publicis Groupe, who shares our commitment to industry interoperability, connectivity, and privacy. Together with Epsilon, we look forward to delivering the next chapter of connected identity for Publicis.”
