Dentsu buys digital agency to add to Merkle's mettle

Dentsu-owned Merkle’s new mergers and acquisitions specialist Julia Crawley-Boevey has barely got her feet under the table than the agency’s parent company has revealed it has acquired the global B2B digital media and marketing agency, DWA, to fold into the Merkle operation.
Established in 1996, DWA is headquartered in San Francisco, with eight additional offices around the world including London, Beijing and Sydney. The deal is the latest addition to Dentsu’s B2B offering, following the acquisition of Gyro last year and Band in 2015.
The move is designed to add scale and breadth to Merkle’s existing capabilities and offering integrated technology, data, creativity, and performance marketing. The new business will be branded “DWA, a Merkle company”.
DWA offers ad-tech, real-time insight, and management support including programmatic, search, social, and demand generation and client include Sprint, NetApp, Cisco, DXC, Salesforce, Oracle, and Informatica.
DWA founder David Wood said: “DWA has a proud history of activating data-driven, digital campaigns for some of the highest regarded B2B technology brands in the world. We believe that we are at the forefront of a new advertising generation that focuses on delivering more valuable connections through people-based marketing, and we’ve found a valuable partner who shares our vision and augments our capabilities in Merkle.”
Merkle president and CEO David Williams (pictured) said: “There’s a growing group of enterprise level, B2B and technology businesses, all moving at breakneck pace to adopt the best advertising solutions and platforms. DWA’s client list reflects a clear early-mover advantage.
“The shift toward people-based marketing is as relevant in B2B as it is elsewhere. This acquisition will strengthen our ability to deliver those capabilities, at scale.”

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