Publicis Acquires SEO firm Performics From Google
August 6, 2008
The Advertising Agency Holding Company, Publicis Groupe , has just opened up a can of worms by buying Performics From Google. This now needs to be addressed by WPP Group plc, InterPublic NYSE IPG, Omnicom Group Inc , Havas, and others in the holding company model. The fear is now that Publicis will be viewed as the more technically savvy advertising agency in terms of search marketing and optimization giving them an extreme advantage for new business pitches.
Publicis Groupe has just bought Performics, the search optimization firm that Google inherited in its purchase of DoubleClick. The deal gives Publicis a big boost in search-marketing capabilities. It is the first holding company to purchase a stronger SEO firm.
Though most of the revenue Performics generates is from search engine marketing, not search engine optimization. It does have a moderate sized SEO team. Meaning that Publicis went from virtually no SEO skill set to being the leader (within the holding companies) with one purchase.
Performics was an unwanted asset in the Google purchase of Double Click, as it did not want to appear to have an SEO firm with inside access to Google’s innerworkings.
In fact Google went to great lengths to keep information from Performics. To the point of releasing info on their public blog prior to informing their own SEO company.
It’s widely expected that multiple SEO firms are now targeted for purchase by the holding companies as you could expect many in the search marketing agency industry to come under holding company ownership in the next year as the industry mindset is focused from just ‘digital’ to search optimization and search marketing.
An unnamed spokeswomen from Publicis replied to the question:
“How do you think this Performics deal will affect the rest of the holding companies”
Her reply:
“they (the holding companies) are going to have a hell of a time catching up”
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Publicis has stated that they want 25% of their overall revenue to come from digital by 2012, and this acquisition will help make that a reality. There’s not that many serious search marketing agencies that have the scale necessary to fit in with Publicis, it’s still a very fragmented market, so the Performics acquisition makes sense.
Plus, Google and Publicis have a long-standing cross-functional relationship, including sharing of executives and intellectual property.
Interesting that many smaller, traditional agencies totally eschew search marketing as “too complex” and “not worth it”. I wonder if this acquisition will change some minds in that regard?
I just wrote a post with more commentary and context: “The Truth About Publicis Buying Performics.”
Jason Baer
Convince & Convert – Digital consulting for agencies
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/convince-convert-digital-marketing-blog
Jason, you really really think that Icrossing is a target for this? They are not that strong organically…. they do have a bunch of PPC clients however…
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Publicis is investing heavily in online businesses that the company sees a good opportunity in the line despite a recession and is expected Futures versus disconnected.
seo firm
“Google and Publicis have a long-standing cross-functional relationship, including sharing of executives and intellectual property.” This is just another way for the big guns to bully a smaller seo firm. Doesn’t seem right to me.