Digitas

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Digitas was an integrated advertising agency and a member of the Publicis Group, now merged with LBi to form DigitasLBi. The company had over 3,000 employees [1] in 28 offices in 18 countries. Digitas also owned The Third Act: (a brand content platform) and Prodigious Worldwide (global digital productions company). Other sister agencies include: Starcom MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia, Dynante[2] and Razorfish, all of which are members of Publicis Groupe's VivaKi.[3] The company was based in Boston.

History

Digitas was originally founded in 1980 by Michael Bronner as Eastern Exclusives. With the addition of Mike Slosberg as CCO, the company was renamed Bronner Slosberg Associates in 1990. In 1992, with Steve Humphrey as President, it was renamed Bronner Slosberg Humphrey Inc. (BSH), a company that grew to become one of the leading direct marketing agencies in the United States.[4] In 1995, BSH launched a subsidiary, the Strategic Interactive Group, to expand into digital marketing. In 1999, these two agencies were recombined to form Bronner.com, and shortly thereafter renamed to Digitas. “Direct marketing had accountability, but not mass reach,” said Laura Lang, in an interview with Promo Magazine. “The emerging digital space was not disciplined the way DM was, but my God, it had reach. Each one needed the other.”[5]

In January 2007, Publicis Groupe purchased Digitas and child company Dynante for $1.3 billion.[6] The acquisition took Digitas from being a predominantly U.S. company to a global firm, expanding into areas such as China,[7] France,[8] India,[9] Singapore,[10] Brazil,[11] Sweden,[12] and Australia.[13]

In February 2013, the company was merged with LBi to form DigitasLBi[14]

Global management team

  • Luke Taylor, Global CEO, DigitasLBi
  • Tony Weisman, CEO, Digitas North America

References