London digital marketing group acquires commerce advertising firm in £15.7m deal

A London digital marketing group has today announced its acquisition of a retail advertising agency in a deal worth nearly £16m.

Next Fifteen Communications Group has acquired data-led business Shopper Media Group, including its subsidiaries, Capture Marketing, Lobster Agency and Threefold Agency.

The acquisition price was approximately £15.7m, of which around £11.8m will be in cash, with the remainder in the form of new ordinary shares in Next Fifteen.

Shopper Media Group, which specialises in commerce marketing activation, has clients including The Co-Op Group and Deliveroo and reported net revenues of £8.9m last year.

Tim Dyson, CEO of Next 15, commented: “Next 15 believes that the future of marketing is tied to the growth agenda of the organisation.

“As such we need to offer our customers a collection of products and services that will enable them to drive growth.

“As the world of retail evolves and looks for new ways to reach customers it needs strategic partners that have the technologies, data science and skills to drive the necessary programmes.

“Shopper Media Group has developed an innovative set of predictive, data-driven tools that enable customers to optimize their spend to drive the strongest levels of growth.

“We are very excited to have them as a part of the family and see a range of opportunities for them to collaborate with other parts of the group.”

Sam Knights, CEO of Shopper Media Group, said: “With the growth of social commerce, on-demand online marketplaces and ecommerce platforms, only accelerated as a result of the impact of Covid, commerce activation is now becoming central to all marketing and brand planning.

“SMG has been leading the way in connected commerce marketing for the past 12 years, building data-driven tools for brands and retailers to unlock real value at the point of consideration and purchase.

“We are very excited about all the opportunities that becoming part of the Next 15 family will bring, not least allowing us to further develop our service for our current clients whilst expanding SMG’s successful model globally.”

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