Accenture Completes Acquisition of Media Audits
Acquisition Expands Company’s Marketing Sciences and Data Services Capabilities
LONDON and NEW YORK; Dec. 12, 2005 – Accenture (NYSE:ACN) has completed the acquisition of Media Audits, a leader in the measurement of return on advertising investment. Media Audits’ people and offerings will be integrated into Accenture’s Marketing Sciences practice.
As a result of the acquisition, Accenture Marketing Sciences now has more than 200 professionals providing services related to the measurement, evaluation and optimization of marketing and media investments globally to over 400 clients across Europe, the United States, Latin America and the Asia Pacific region.
Upon learning of the acquisition, Ovum analyst Douglas Hayward said in a recent research note: "Measuring and improving the effectiveness of marketing across multiple media has never been more important for advertisers. Accenture provides a mix of consulting, systems integration and managed services to advertisers, which will be augmented with the Media Audits acquisition. This is about using technology to create business value."
The acquisition of Media Audits — whose clients are among the top advertisers in the automotive, leisure, telecommunications and consumer goods sectors — will enable Accenture’s Marketing Sciences practice to offer marketing and media optimization services that allow marketers to track their investments, as well as those of their competitors, on a monthly basis with Web-enabled dashboards that include easy-to-access point-and-click capabilities.
"By integrating Media Audits’ people and offerings into Accenture Marketing Sciences, we will be able to provide clients with the full range of services necessary to help them assess their marketing programs to track not only whether an advertisement ran, but also whether it reached the target audience and whether that media buy was made at a competitive price," said Jeffrey Merrihue, CEO of Accenture Marketing Sciences. "As CEOs turn up the heat on their marketers to demonstrate a return on investment, this is the kind of data that will be needed to evaluate and show results."
Julian Spooner, the former CEO of Media Audits and new chief operating officer of Accenture Marketing Sciences, said, "As part of the expanded Accenture Marketing Sciences organization, we look forward to bringing a new set of rigorous processes and measures to the decision-making and overall management of this business discipline."
About Accenture
Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills, and technologies to help clients improve their performance. With more than 123,000 people in 48 countries, the company generated net revenues of US $15.55 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2005. Its home page is www.accenture.com.
###
Barbara Hohbach
+1 (703) 947 1838