Crown Partners, the electronic business services firm based in Dayton Ohio, has been acquired by the French multinational Publicis Groupe and will now be operating as a subsidiary of Razorfish Technology Platform Services, the international holding company's digital and technology business division. Crown will, however, retain a presence at their Dayton offices. The acquisition marks a continued effort on the Publicis Groupe's part to push further into the digital marketing space, and it's thought that with Crown on board, Razorfish will be able to bolster its e-commerce business, which has been a major focus for the agency over the last few years. The financial terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed.
The acquisition marks a continued effort on the Publicis Groupe's part to push further into the digital marketing space
Crown's chief executive, Richard Hearn, will be assuming the role of executive lead and president of Razorfish, which is based in New York. Hearn said that they “Fully intend to keep and even grow” the agency's Dayton presence, and stressed that further details regarding Crown's integration within Razorfish “Will be announced in the near future.” The Crown acquisition is the first such announcement for Publicis since the much publicised proposed merger with Omnicom fell to pieces in May. Following the collapse of the deal (which would have created the world's largest advertising holding company), chief executive Maurice Levy has made a concerted effort to bulk up the company's digital capabilities. Indeed, he went so far as to say that the company intends to expand its digital footprint to become a company “That resembles more of an Internet company than an ad agency.”
Richard Hearn, Crown Partners co-founder and new Razorfish president and executive lead
Founded in 2001 by Hearn and president Mark Kennedy, Crown Partners offers digital content, commerce, communications and analytics services to clients such as ASICS, Lands' End, GloxoSmithKlein and United Technologies. The agency currently has 150 employees, all of whom will be folded into Razorfish. Hearn says of the company that he co-founded 13 years ago; “Crown Partners has empowered companies to use digital technologies to expedite growth, drive new business and minimise costs.” He feels that joining forces with Razorfish will give their shared clients “Access to unmatched innovation, depth of expertise and balance in platform enabled professional services.”
The Crown acquisition is the first such announcement for Publicis since the much publicised proposed merger with Omnicom fell to pieces in May
Of the acquisition, Pete Stein, the global CEO of Razorfish, said that only “The businesses with the best and most consistent customer experience will come out on top, and the only way to win is to effectively leverage technology and data. Delivering this strategy on an ongoing basis requires scale.” He feels that the acquisition of Crown Partners will allow them to further expand their efforts, “While accelerating time to market." Shannon Denton, the North American CEO, said that joining forces with Crown “Made perfect sense,” and feels that together, they'll be able to scale their ability to “Deliver commerce and content technology services.” Which she stresses will be helped further by the “Deep existing partnerships,” both organisations already have “With the Adobe and hybris platforms.”
Official Crown Partners Website
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. Upon researching this article he accidentally discovered a picture of a Razorfish and now he doubts he'll ever again set foot in the ocean.
