Award-winning Australian agency Match Media will be known as Blue 449 from January 9 2017, as owner Publicis Media moves to simplify the Optimedia | Blue 449 brand.
All six remaining Optimedia offices in Australia will also become Blue 449.
View of Pacific Ocean and sky, dawn, Olympic NP, WA
In June 2015 Match was acquired by Publicis Groupe to become part of the Blue 449. Publicis Media created Optimedia I Blue 449 in March 2016 as the “open source” brand for the Group, merging the Optimedia brand with fledgling Blue 449.
John Preston, CEO Match Media, said “Match was acquired by the Publicis Groupe in June 2015. One of the reasons we partnered with Publicis was to be part of Blue 449. Our entrepreneurial spirit continues as we are part of a relatively new global brand that embraces the intersection of data and ideas. This next evolution of Match as Blue 449 further powers us as a global brand that provides our people with unified purpose. Our management team remains unchanged and James Simmons our COO and I will continue to lead the agency.”
Andras Vigh, Blue 449 Global Brand President, said: “By bringing together the brands we are creating a unique agency that is truly scaled with our ‘Open Source’ philosophy. Our focus this year has been to create a consistent global footprint and an aligned name. Blue 449 will help us to drive our product and our clients’ businesses, to live up to our mantra that we are always in beta and continue our innovation in creativity and data through media. Exciting times ahead.”
With a global presence across 14 core markets and 22 offices, Blue 449 intends to launch a further eight offices including Singapore, Mexico, Taiwan and Bulgaria by the end of 2017 increasing its footprint across EMEA, APAC and the Americas