Once upon a time media agencies did what it said on the tin – planned and bought media time and space.
But the lines are blurring all over adland and Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia has something called Performics, which describes itself as a ‘global performance marketing network.’
Now Zenith has bought Czech performance agency B2B Group, which specialises in online, to add to Performics. B2B Group employs 30 or so people in Prague and Bratislava.
Zenith Czech CEO Tomas Varga says: “B2B Group has developed a fantastic reputation in the Czech-Slovak market for driving return on investment for clients through performance marketing. The agency’s talent and expertise is a perfect fit with ZenithOptimedia in the Czech market as we develop our communications services around three pillars: media, through ZenithOptimedia; performance marketing, with Performics; and content services from Newcast, which we launched in the Czech market last year.”
Zenith Northern, Central and Eastern Europe boss Nicole Prusse says: “The acquisition of B2B is part of our strategy to build ZenithOptimedia Czech into a full service communications planning agency. Our recent Nestlé win is a testament to this approach.”
B2B Group MD Tomas Potesil says: “Over the past few years, we have enjoyed considerable growth in the Czech and Slovak markets. We are now working with a range of online brands and also many corporate clients. Our suite of services have expanded from search into other areas of performance marketing and this makes us a perfect match with ZenithOptimedia.”
Well that seems clear enough. Still not entirely sure what a ‘performance agency’ is though. Is it a new version of direct marketing?
