The Publicis Groupe has been tipped to acquire Criteo, the online advertising company based in Paris, France. According to recent reports, the acquisition would help the Publicis Groupe expand its digital capabilities, as Criteo specialise in performance display advertising. News of the reported buy out caused Criteo's shares to jump 21%, but a spokesperson for the company declined to comment officially and said at this point it was “Only a rumour.” Publicis has also declined to comment at the time of writing, though the discussions have rumoured to have been underway for three months. The companies had previously entered into a discussion before the proposed merger between Publicis and Omnicom, which was called off back in May.
Publicis have also declined to comment at the time of writing, though the discussions have rumoured to have been underway for three months
Criteo went public in October last year and also launched its Singapore office as the head office for the Asian region. It's also been reported that the company has been looking to expand its presence into other geographic markets, such as Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. It also currently has offices in Australia, China, South Korea and Japan. Last month it expanded chief operating officer Eric Eichmann's role to include that of president. He succeeded Greg Coleman, who left the company to join Buzzfeed.
Eric Eichmann
The bespoke “Self-learning” predictive algorithm engine at the heart of Criteo (and almost certainly the reason Publicis is interested) is able to analyse transactions and use that analysis to product consumers’ browsing behaviour. This has obvious benefits, as it allows advertisers to target and convert consumers in real-time who are more likely to be interested in what they have to offer. It's not exactly seeing into the future, but it's about as close as advertising has gotten thus far. The platform gained a fresh enhancement back in July, which enables advertisers to target consumers with individually personalised ads in “More than 130 countries.”
Last month Criteo expanded chief operating officer Eric Eichmann's role to include that of president. He succeeded Greg Coleman, who left the company to join Buzzfeed.
For Publicis, the move is thought to be just another piece of their global expansion puzzle. Other recent expansions in the region include the hiring of the entire iNeo team and the acquisition of a minority stake in the home-grown Singapore-based agency, Arcade. They also recently set up a full service digital agency in Hong Kong called ROAR as part of a global roll-out.
Official Publicis Groupe Website
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK who had to spend a good 5 minutes going through this article and changing “Citroen” to “Criteo.”
