Bee Media Acquires Adcentricity

TORONTO, April 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bee Media Inc., a mobile shopping platform, announced today the acquisition of the business of Adcentricity Inc., a location-based digital media technology company.  In addition, the newly formed Adcentricity announces the availability of two new products that make it easier for advertisers to develop hyper-local campaigns.  Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Bee Media acquired the Adcentricity name and going forward will operate as Adcentricity, with Doug Woolridge, CEO of Bee Media, remaining at the helm as the CEO.  Adcentricity will continue to provide clients with location-based marketing solutions including new platforms, technologies, and services that drive shopper marketing and consumer engagement based on a person's physical location.  The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed; ICM-Caldwell and Telesystem are behind the transaction.

"The combination of local, shopper marketing, mobile, in-store radio and video networks has created a fractured landscape of thousands of smart, effective companies and media channels with limited ways to get the attention of, and adoption by, brands," said Rob Gorrie, former CEO of Adcentricity, who will stay on with the company as a Senior Strategic Advisor.  "Together with Bee Media, we can now offer an even more powerful platform with the ability to target and distribute addressable content across every digital channel with a location attached to it – including mobile shopping applications, which Bee Media has been quietly building over the past year."  

Location-based marketing, including the data and activity that surrounds it, is quickly becoming identified as key to consumer influence, CRM and shopper marketing initiatives.  The new Adcentricity effortlessly allows brands to execute and respond to localized events and activities, and scale from one location to tens of thousands via a series of new and existing products.  With several key products, platforms and tools with enhanced functionality, Adcentricity has created a newly formed location-based hub of product, data and capabilities.

The two new products announced today include:

• ADMobile.  A platform for location-based mobile shopping, including mobile interfaces, shopping tools, location services, mobile payment, content management, analytics and reporting
• ADFormat.  An automated content generation tool that allows advertisers to execute completely customizable campaigns of video, copy, images and graphics to fit any digital screen, DOOH, OOH or mobile that can be uniquely messaged to any specific market or location

In addition, the company will continue to offer ADCentral, a product core to the Adcentricity service, as well as supporting components: ADVenue, ADTarget and ADFormat (included above) designed to place messaging in front of the most potential consumers.

• ADCentral.  Core to the Adcentricity service, ADCentral acts as a hub for venue-specific planning, targeting and content creation with 16 categories and 55 subcategories reaching over 1 billion impressions across DOOH, in-store, in-store radio, NFC, Wi-Fi, mobile apps and more
  • ADVenue.  A tool that offers a single source of detailed digital media inventory and hyper-local venue selection across multiple location-based media channels
  • ADTarget.  Allows for targeting consumers most likely to purchase your product by layering venues with demographics and data from Nielsen, Environics, Polk, Simmons, PMB, BBM and more

"When you couple Bee Media's expertise on the consumer mobile applications side with that of Adcentricity on the location-based delivery side, it creates a platform that makes hyper-local mobile campaigns easy and executable for advertisers, brands and retailers," said Doug Woolridge, CEO of Adcentricity.  "Our location-based digital technology hub demystifies the complexities in this new media landscape enabling connections with on the go consumers in active retail environments.  Our mission is to connect the digital world with the physical world with a few clicks and have the ability to measure and report on results in a timely fashion."

Key executives from both companies will remain as part of the new Adcentricity including Brad Alles, SVP Business Development, Jeff Atley, VP Business Development and Laurie Freudenberg, Chief Operating Officer.

Adcentricity has worked with some of the top agencies and brands including Toyota, American Express, General Motors, Samsung, P&G, Coca-Cola and Roche.  In addition, the company holds several strategic partnerships including The Nielsen Company, Polk, Environics Analytics, Computer Sciences Corporation and PwC.  The new services provided by Adcentricity will offer a fully integrated platform to compile, create, localize, render and distribute an advertising campaign easily and cost effectively to any type of location-based digital media.

About Adcentricity
Adcentricity is a location-based digital media company offering location-based marketing platforms and solutions that drive shopper marketing and consumer engagement based on a person's physical location.  With two key products, ADCentral featuring three key services: ADVenue, ADTarget and ADFormat, and our newest product ADMobile, advertisers can deliver and measure targeted and personalized offers and advertising to their highest potential consumers along the path to purchase.  Adcentricity has worked with top agencies and brands including Toyota, American Express, General Motors, Samsung, P&G, Coca-Cola and Roche, among others, and has strategic partnerships with The Nielsen Company, Polk, Environics Analytics, Computer Sciences Corporation, PwC and more.  The new services provided by Adcentricity offer a fully-integrated platform to plan, target, create, deliver and measure an advertising campaign easily and cost effectively to any type of location-based digital media.  Adcentricity is headquartered in Toronto, with offices in New York and London.  For more information visit www.adcentricity.com.

SOURCE Adcentricity