Kepler Group Buys Programmatic Agency Infectious Media

In a year that has seen the operating model of traditional media agencies increasingly challenged, two programmatic specialists are pairing up in the hope of outmaneuvering the sector's largest names. This latest merger of these two independent players appears to come as a response to a long-overdue wake-up call among the smaller, less established entities. Kepler Group purchased based Infectious Media earlier this week for an undisclosed sum. The combined headcount of the two companies now numbers 400 with offices across the U.S., UK, Latin American and Asia. The Infectious Media brand will remain in the UK for the near-term. As the two brands work through the details of the integration, the brands expect to harmonize their respective outfits across the globe. Speaking with Adweek Rick Greenberg, CEO of Kepler Group, and Martin Kelly, CEO of Infectious Media, said discussions over the sale began in mid-2019. The executives emphasized that the deal represented "a growth story" without any job losses between the two companies. Both companies' services are focused on corporate advertisers. According to their respective clients, Kepler Group and Infectious Media were told that to better meet their needs, "each firm really needed to establish more of a global footprint," Greenberg explained to Adweek. "Joining forces is enabling a whole new set of conversations about clients [who include Hasbro, HSBC, PepsiCo and Uber] starting to work with us globally," he added. The new-look Kepler Group, which operates within the kyu Collective under Asia-based parent company Hakuhodo, will seek to position itself among the cohort of digital-first outfits such as Jellyfish, MightyHive (part of Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital), and You & Mr Jones. Such players, all of whom operate outside of the media industry's major holding groups, offer an array of services including programmatic media-buying as well as consultancy for brands on whether or not they should adopt an in-house media-buying model. Infectious Media's Kelly, who will eventually assume the title of CEO of Kepler Group UK, APAC, told Adweek the outfit hoped to differentiate itself from this cohort of upstart players by being tech-agnostic. "We've never been a reseller of any particular technology," he said. "A lot of the time, a client will take a particular technology with them, and then we'll work in a certain way. We have that flexibility with out engagement model that can involve working alongside in-house teams." Tom Denford, CEO ID Comms Inc., an NYC-based management consultancy that specializes in media and advertising, said marketers are increasingly looking for a range of services from agency partners. A trend that has been reflected in traditional holding groups repurposing their programmatic offerings. “The main trend we see is advertisers being wide open to a variety of different agency operating models and wanting to work with teams and groups that can be agile to adapt to their needs and not have to fit around a rigid agency group structure,” he said. Nathan Woodman, CEO of consulting outfit Proof, and former chief digital officer at Havas Media Group, explained to Adweek how smaller outfits can prove a point of differentiation in the market, especially in contrast to more sizeable holding group incumbents. "These upstart holding companies [such as S4] have a pathway to disruption while the traditional holding companies might have some resistance as it [in-housing] cannibalizes their legacy business," he said. "The newer ones aren't tied to a legacy business model."