Publicis Groupe has acquired the commerce marketing company Mars United Commerce, which has over 1,000 employees based in 14 hubs worldwide, including Australia.
The acquisition deal prices the commerce marketing company at around US$600 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Rob Rivenburgh, Global CEO of Mars United, said: “Joining Publicis Groupe will help Mars realise our vision of being the preeminent global commerce company faster and more completely.
“We’re excited to have the support of Publicis to bring new opportunities to our existing clients and also to share our connected commerce solution with new clients around the globe. We look forward to writing the next chapter of commerce together.”
Rob Rivenburgh
Arthur Sadoun, Publicis Groupe CEO, welcomed Rivenburgh and the Mars teams to the holding company. He said: “Their innovative spirit and proprietary platforms will further connect and complement our existing capabilities to deliver industry-leading, end-to-end commerce solutions for our clients, both online and offline.
“With the acquisition of Influential this summer, and now Mars, Publicis is uniquely positioned to help our clients understand both existing consumers and future prospects and connect that knowledge at an individual level to the new media channels that work hardest for their business: Connected TV, Commerce and Creators.
“All of this, in clients’ own ecosystems, giving them control over their customer relationships and transparency in their investments and outcomes,” Sadoun added.
Mars was founded 50 years ago and renowned for its history of innovation, deep understanding of shoppers, proprietary commerce insights platform and its extensive retailer relationships.
Under Rivenburgh’s leadership, Mars’ proprietary technology and solutions will further scale and supercharge Publicis’ existing commerce capabilities.
The combination of Mars and Publicis Groupe aims to create a connected commerce solution that allows clients to plan and activate through the full marketing funnel and increase sales at the point of purchase.
Arthur Sadoun
The acquisition will allow Publicis Groupe clients to create and implement end-to-end commerce solutions to make effective use of strategy and insights using Epsilon’s first-person identity data.
It will also combine the scale of Publicis Media with Mars United’s comprehensive understanding of retail organisations to help clients win the last mile of purchase in physical and digital locations with more efficient and effective media campaigns and activations.
Publicis will also merge insights into ecommerce sales and operations from its digital shelf platform Profitero, with Mars United’s data set to give clients a complete view of commerce marketing performance – online and offline – and drive brand growth.
Concretely, it means that Publicis Groupe clients can now create and implement end-to-end commerce solutions that optimize:
Publicis Groupe’s acquisition comes after the rebranding from XPO: The Mars Agency to Mars United Commerce, a change that was adopted by all of The Mars Agency’s operations around the world earlier this year.
At the time the agency claimed that the name change reflects its transformation into a full-service commerce marketing partner.
See also: XPO: The Mars Agency rebrands to Mars United Commerce