-By David Gianatasio

BOSTON Ever-acquisitive Publicis Groupe has purchased Seattle-based digital marketing company PBJS. That shop's largest client is Microsoft.

The 26-person shop specializes in multi-channel strategic communications and works to cultivate sustainable relationships between brands and their audiences. Events management, interactive media and branded entertainment are all areas of PBJS' expertise.

Microsoft is PBJS' signature account. It produces internal and external events for the software giant. PBJS  most visible work has been in the realm of online book promotions for best-sellers like Tom Friedman's The World Is Flat, for which it helped devise a cross-channel episodic extension with MSN, MSNBC and MSNBC.com. AT&T, Intel, Smart Balance Foods and Sephora are also clients.

The agency will operate as an autonomous unit of Publicis Events Worldwide, providing video production, Webcasts and interactive exhibition services.

Shop CEO Bob Bejan retains day-to-day management duties, reporting to John Farrell president and CEO of Publicis' SAMS Worldwide division, who said adding PBJS bolsters the French holding company's credentials in events marketing.

Bejan called joining Publicis "a critical step for us, and it means a lot in terms of validating our business model and providing accelerated scale. With this move, we are well-positioned to reap the benefits of being part of a global group while, at the same time, maintaining our identity and remaining true to our roots." Financial terms were not revealed.

Publicis has made numerous moves to strengthen its global agency operations in the past two years, beginning with its January 2007 acquisition of Boston i-shop Digitas. Since then, the company has built up the Digitas network --  particularly in high-growth Asian markets -- and added other agencies in Asia, Europe and the U.S. specializing in digital, media and marcom services.