Category: News

The acquisition of Ampush deepens Tinuiti’s social offering and adds Ampush’s integrated proprietary tech to connect and optimize social creative and data

PALAZZO is pleased to announce it has served as exclusive financial advisor to Ampush, a leading growth marketing agency with a core focus across social platforms that provides end-to-end performance creative and customer acquisition capabilities, on its sale to Tinuiti, a portfolio company of New Mountain Capital. Ampush is a leading growth marketing agency with a core focus across social platforms that provides end-to-end performance creative and customer acquisition capabilities. The acquisition of Ampush expands and complements Tinuiti’s already industry award-winning paid social capabilities, in addition to now providing clients access to distinctive end-to-end social, creative, and measurement capabilities that leverage data through industry-differentiated technology.

Founded in 2010, Ampush is based in New York City with nearly 90 employees, with an additional presence in San Francisco and remotely. Ampush partners with fast-growing e-commerce and subscription commerce brands including Instacart, Blenders Eyewear, and STARZ. Ampush quickly made a name for itself by catapulting digitally-native brands to new levels of profitable customer growth. The Ampush tech stack and social capabilities has proven the ability to use novel technologies and tactics to connect the right consumers with the right brands.

The acquisition brings Tinuiti clients:

• Performance Creative for Social: Agile creative production including access to graphic designers, videographers, UGC-content production, proprietary content sites, and influencer relationships to optimize messaging for growth.
• Customization throughout the funnel: Rigorous testing and optimization of the connection between “pre-click” ad creative and audiences, with “post-click” curated landing pages, checkout flows and personalized experiences.
• Analytics that unlock strategy: Proprietary tech that integrates across any data source and empowers teams to use client-specific insights and find otherwise invisible strategies to win. Unique and advantageous solutions to build an edge in marketing.

Zach Morrison, CEO at Tinuiti, said: “With Tinuiti’s acquisition of Ampush, we’re unlocking a new level of social capabilities for clients designed not only for today’s landscape, but for long term success – an end-to-end offering with expertise that combines creative with differentiated landing page technology and data. Not only are they the right business fit, they are also the right cultural fit who shares similar values and core philosophies for creating employee happiness and establishing an environment that empowers its employees with a culture of ownership.”

This deal marks the third acquisition since 2021 for Tinuiti, following the purchase of The Ortega Group, an Amazon-specialist agency in March 2021, followed by Bliss Point Media in August 2021, formally launching Tinuiti’s Streaming+ division. Ampush CEO Jon Oberlander, will lead the Tinuiti Social Division as EVP, Social and report to Tinuiti’s Chief Solutions Officer, Obele Brown-West.

Jon Oberlander, EVP, Social at Tinuiti said: “Since our founding in 2010, Ampush has built a reputation as a best-in-class social agency driven by a performance-oriented culture of ownership and innovation. We believe in the effectiveness of our unique approach — leveraging both technology and creativity to solve for the entire customer acquisition journey, impression all the way through conversion, to drive unprecedented growth for our clients. Today, we’re incredibly excited to bring this approach to Tinuiti, combining our talented teams and offering our clients even stronger technology-enabled solutions across the full breadth of their portfolios.”

In addition to their shared business approach, Tinuiti and Ampush align deeply on company culture. Both firms believe in revolutionizing work by prioritizing a culture of ownership and in nurturing an inclusive environment that is ultimately driven by employee happiness. This shared sentiment and an overarching commitment to retaining and attracting talent is evident in Ampush’s impressive roster of industry veterans and exceptional leaders.

The combination of Acosta and OeP provides clients with an end-to-end suite of digital commerce services that enable them to maximize business on Amazon and key retailer.com platforms

PALAZZO is pleased to announce it has served as exclusive financial advisor to OeP, a best-in-class eCommerce agency providing a 360-degree solution to help brands maximize their sales on Amazon, on its sale to Acosta. The acquisition is a key milestone in the Acosta growth story, helping to further achieve the company’s mission of enabling clients to win in the modern marketplace with progressive solutions and exceptional service. The combination of Acosta and OeP provides clients with an end-to-end suite of digital commerce services that enable them to maximize business on Amazon and key retailer.com platforms.

With unparalleled depth of knowledge of the world’s largest eCommerce platform, Amazon, OeP understands what it takes for brands to standout in the modern and competitive marketplace. The agency positions brands to be the number one best sellers in their categories on Amazon.

“Research shows 86% of shoppers are shopping both online and in-store, and Acosta is uniquely positioned to respond to their evolving needs,” said Brian Wynne, CEO of Acosta. “Brands today need the expertise of agencies such as Acosta and OeP to provide best-in-class counsel, driving them to the forefront of digital marketplaces such as Amazon. We are excited to expand opportunities for retailer partners, brand partners, and shoppers and look forward to welcoming OeP’s associates to Acosta.”

“Along with my co-founder Jim Tonkin, we are thrilled to join Acosta,” said Colin Jones, CEO of OeP. “We have built a culture of respect amongst our team and the clients we serve. OeP has always been guided by our clients’ trust to elevate and inspire their brands to be successful, and that will not change. What will change is a new commitment to bringing current and future clients a broader suite of tools to help achieve their business goals. Jim and I would like to thank our entire team for helping us get to this critical moment in our company’s history.“

“With the acquisition of OeP, Acosta is now a one-stop digital commerce agency, offering clients full services across all retail.com platforms, including platform management, content, data measurement and retail media,” said John Carroll, Chief Growth Officer for Acosta. “We are uniquely positioned in the industry to help clients build seamless and connected physical and digital go-to-market plans with their retailers.”

The acquisition of OeP ties eCommerce into Acosta’s broader digital commerce strategy, deploying best-in-class capabilities to help its clients land in physical and online shopping carts. OeP will continue to operate under its current name as a stand-alone brand.

Raybeam’s 20+ year track record in developing data-driven applications will further accelerate Dept’s global data, intelligence, technology and engineering practices

PALAZZO is pleased to announce it has served as exclusive financial advisor to Raybeam, a software engineering and analytics consulting firm, on its sale to Dept, a global digital agency and a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group. Raybeam develops custom data-centric applications and software to help brands like Google, eBay, SPARC, Herman Miller, Videoamp, and Meta navigate their big data challenges, increase revenue, and optimize costs. With 100+ engineers and consultants across offices in Newburyport, MA, Mountain View, CA and Austin, TX, Raybeam will accelerate its global growth by joining Dept.

“Data has always been a powerful tool for businesses, but now it’s simply an indispensable one,” said DS Anderson Song, Co-Founder at Raybeam. “We believe in helping clients use data to their advantage in a sustainable, practical and ethical way, and Dept shares this same belief. We’re excited to bring our domain expertise and first-rate engineering team to Dept, to expand into new markets around the world, and to help even more companies solve complex data challenges.”

Founded in 1997, Raybeam’s specialty is building turnkey tools and platforms in the areas of SEO, SEM, data warehousing and business intelligence. The company has a proven track record in custom development of data-driven applications and tools, with an emphasis on process automation and algorithmic problems like bidding, routing, recommendation and other sales, marketing and customer-focused solutions.

“We want to help all of our clients make better informed, smarter decisions faster,” said Dimi Albers, CEO of Dept. “Data and tech play a huge role in that, and Raybeam brings more than 20 years of world-class experience in helping clients solve complex data challenges with highly customized solutions. By working even stronger together on shared clients like eBay, Herman Miller and Moody’s and bundling their expertise with our existing teams in the US and around the world, Raybeam will further accelerate our global data, intelligence, technology and engineering practices.”

Headquartered in Amsterdam, and backed by investment firm The Carlyle Group, Dept is one of the fastest-growing digital agencies in the world, represented in 25 countries with over 2,500 people across five continents. With a purely digital DNA, Dept brings together tech and marketing in integrated teams for clients like Bose, Patagonia, Google, KFC, ASOS and Netflix.

Raybeam joins Dept’s strong technology and engineering practice in the US, led by Rocket Insights and Devetry, both of whom joined Dept in recent years. Their rich history in developing custom solutions bolsters Dept’s recently announced Ada by Dept proprietary martech platform, which gives brands access to proven best-in-class technology for performance marketing, creative, data and media optimization.

The newly formed partnership will provide Lamark Media with strategic support and significant capital resources to advance the Company’s growth strategy.

PALAZZO is pleased to announce it has served as co-financial advisor to Lamark Media, an integrated digital marketing company, in securing an investment from TruArc Partners. The newly formed partnership will provide Lamark Media with strategic support and significant capital resources to advance the Company’s growth strategy. This includes increased investment in people, capabilities, and technology, as well as the continued strategic acquisition of complementary businesses that augment and expand Lamark Media’s existing skill sets. This represents a continuation of Lamark’s long-term growth plan that started with previous private equity funding in 2018, which is now accelerated with TruArc Partners, to ensure that Lamark remains at the forefront of digital innovation for its clients and employees. Lamark’s foundational business practice, including the current executive and leadership teams, will remain unchanged and excited for the future.

“We are excited to work with TruArc Partners to help accelerate our growth, expand our capabilities and continue to grow our team, remaining focused on achieving positive results for our clients,” said Bryan Shetsky, Founder and CEO Lamark Media. “Lamark and TruArc share a unified vision, and they have the resources, expertise and collaborative mindset to be a great partner for us in the next phase of our business’s evolution.”

Lamark Media offers integrated marketing solutions, with specialization in e-commerce, lead generation, and digital customer acquisition strategy. Lamark’s clients range from emerging brands to Fortune 500 companies for both consumer and business-to-business initiatives. Lamark has built a unique and comprehensive approach to achieving business growth for its clients, leveraging its significant experience across service channels, end markets and business models with an agnostic approach. Lamark also has top-level relationships with key media partners including Google, Facebook, Snapchat, Bing, and Trade Desk, as well as other emerging digital platforms.

“The fragmented nature of the digital marketing industry makes it ripe for transformational growth,” said Alan Mantel, Co-Managing Partner, TruArc Partners. “Lamark’s strong management team along with their deep relationships with such a diverse range of customers positions the company for ongoing success. We look forward to partnering with Bryan and the Lamark leadership team to advance their strategy and propel the company forward.”

TruArc supports transformational growth through active strategic and operational management, partnering with dedicated senior executives and strong management teams. Tech-enabled business services is a core area of focus for the firm, including digital marketing, given its growing importance to the overall economy. Digital marketing and advertising are benefitting from the ongoing shift away from traditional marketing strategies towards omni-channel digital marketing. Small-to-medium size companies through large, mature brands benefit from the scalable expertise and execution that Lamark Media provides.

“Lamark is a thought leader and positioned to deliver on the continued evolution of digital marketing,” said Campbell Langdon, Operating Partner, TruArc Partners. “We look forward to working with the Lamark team to continue to deploy their data-driven analytical approach to more clients and help build additional capabilities.”

PALAZZO served as exclusive financial advisor to a leading e-commerce sporting goods training aid brand on its sale to Thrasio. Thrasio is the consumer goods company reimagining omnichannel commerce and consumer products. With the experience of evaluating 6,000 Amazon companies, data on consumer preferences from more than 125 brands, and the operational scale of more than 22,000 products, Thrasio is the largest acquirer of Amazon FBA brands.