(Chicago, IL, August 12, 2021) — MERGE, a premium storytelling technology company that promotes health, wealth and happiness, announced today the acquisition of the digital marketing consultancy, Blue Moon Digital, Inc. This move significantly enhances MERGE’s Performance Marketing capabilities to offer a full set of eCommerce solutions at scale and deepen the firm’s retailer vertical marketing expertise, combining content with commerce.
Blue Moon Digital, Inc. is a strategic performance marketing agency serving retailers and direct-to-consumer online brands, as well as managing more than $1 billion dollars in annual eCommerce revenue. This acquisition adds a suite of mature offerings that range from paid media, email, SEO, analytics and Business intelligence (BI), rounding out MERGE’s leading-edge technology platform. Blue Moon Digital also brings a complementary client roster, with 65 retail brands such as Coach, Giant Eagle, JOANN, Kate Spade, and The North Face, while adding key strategic partnerships with Domo, Google and others.
“At a time when businesses are rapidly adopting an eCommerce mindset, Blue Moon Digital’s strategic performance marketing expertise augments MERGE’s digital capabilities and expands our consumer practice,” said Patrick Venetucci, chief executive officer of MERGE. “Fusing Blue Moon Digital’s command of eCommerce and data analytics with MERGE’s content and technology capabilities facilitates our ability to drive traffic and transactions for clients in a powerful way and differentiates MERGE as an agency partner capable of building brands that tangibly increase client revenues.”
MERGE is creating a modern, integrated model that effectively blends creative, technology, media and data solutions. In 2020, MERGE united with Sandbox to form one of the largest independent agencies in North America and became No. 18 on the 2021 Advertising Age Annual Agency Report. Additionally, in the past year, Saurab Bhargava joined MERGE as its first chief digital officer to focus on digital transformation, and Nick Jones joined as its chief client officer to focus on commerce, each carving out a path for the addition of Blue Moon Digital that deepens MERGE’s performance marketing capability.
“Through the lens of our retail and digital clients, we have seen an increased demand for eCommerce and performance marketing solutions that combine storytelling and technology in one integrated platform,” said Cindy Brown, chief executive officer of Blue Moon Digital. “As sophistication and content volume proves to be effective at driving traffic, joining forces with MERGE offers access to more talents ranging from poets to PhDs that will help elevate the results we can deliver to clients as they seek to capture more market share.”
Based in Denver, CO, the addition of Blue Moon Digital grows the MERGE talent base by more than 20 percent and provides additional opportunities for employees from both organizations to grow and thrive. All the members of the MERGE and Blue Moon Digital leadership teams will remain in their current roles and work together to effectively integrate the combined companies under the MERGE brand name.
Garros Group served as the strategic and financial M&A advisor to Blue Moon Digital in this transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About MERGE
MERGE promotes health, wealth and happiness in the world by merging storytelling with technology and offers marketing and technology clients full-service capabilities including strategy, creative communications, experience engineering, media, digital platform development and more. MERGE has enduring client partnerships with American Express, T-Mobile, LG, Fidelity, Eaton Vance, BlueCross BlueShield, Abbott, Takeda, Advocate Aurora Health, Brigham Health, Indiana University Health and Marco’s Pizza. With 550+ employees across offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, New York City and Los Angeles. MERGE uses a talent-to-task process that enables clients to think higher and feel deeper about their customers. For more information, visit mergeworld.com.
About Blue Moon Digital
Blue Moon Digital, Inc. is a full-service digital marketing consultancy, blending the best of performance marketing, data analytics, data science, and data technology to help businesses navigate the digital landscape complexities. Serving clients in the retail, ecommerce and marketplaces industries, Blue Moon Digital, Inc. is starting a data revolution to help companies worldwide accelerate digital transformation while leveraging real-time insights to achieve desired business outcomes. Blue Moon Digital has enduring client partnerships with Kate Spade NY, Smartwool, The North Face, G.H. Bass & Co, Eileen Fisher, Destination Maternity, Nautica, Coach, Giant Eagle, Hobobags, JOANN, and Rue 21. Blue Moon Digital has 120+ employees with their main office in Denver Colorado.
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