Aegis Media's iProspect Acquires Community Moderation Expert ICUC to Support Growing Social Media Capabilities

BOSTON, June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Aegis Media's iProspect, a leading global digital performance agency, today announced it has acquired Winnipeg, Manitoba-based ICUC Moderation Services (ICUC).  ICUC is a leader in providing global online content and community moderation services to some of the world's largest brands.  With this acquisition, iProspect can offer its clients expanded capabilities for developing and executing sophisticated social media marketing solutions that drive measurable business results.

New York-based mergers and acquisition firm AdMedia Partners acted as financial advisor in the transaction.  Specific terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.  

"We have a crystal clear view on the way convergence is driving increasingly complex but more effective consumer/brand interactions. Clients are not only looking for guidance in navigating the media environment, they want brilliance in execution to deliver superior brand performance for their marketing investment," said Nigel Morris, CEO of Aegis Media North America. "The acquisition of ICUC, a clear leader in social media intelligence and moderation services, and its integration with iProspect provides brands with a truly innovative service that can turn social sentiment into consumer action. This acquisition further extends iProspect's leadership across the digital performance spectrum."  

iProspect will use ICUC's community management platform and social media expertise to continue enhancing its range of social media offerings. Earlier this month, iProspect unveiled its new, expanded brand positioning, which focuses on delivering "Digital Performance on a Global Scale." With more than 800 employees in 29 countries, and 39 offices worldwide, and a rapidly expanding set of capabilities further supported by this acquisition, iProspect is well positioned to deliver on its market promise.

"There is an ideal and immediate fit between ICUC's real-time social media services and our clients' growing needs across the social media landscape," said Robert Murray, iProspect Global CEO. "As consumers continue to lead the evolution of brand interaction, iProspect will be perfectly poised to offer our clients robust social media expertise, based on technology leadership as well as in-depth consumer understanding. ICUC's capabilities are a natural extension of our services, providing yet another way for us to drive measurable business results by creating customized digital marketing programs."

ICUC provides strategic direction to some of the world's most socially engaged brands including Chevron, Intel, Molson, Scotiabank and Starbucks. The company's multi-lingual content and community specialists offer clients guidance and moderation of social media conversations, user-generated content, chat and live events across the globe.   ICUC's more than 175 employees will operate as a division of the iProspect brand, and its clients will experience no interruption in service.  The company will remain based in Winnipeg.  

"Our team is genuinely excited to join forces with iProspect, a company known for creating and delivering world-class results and customer service for its clients," commented Keith Bilous, President and CEO of ICUC. "The social media world is evolving and changing daily, and as one organization, we will be able to deliver significant competitive advantage to iProspect's clients by offering the most current, vital and strategic social media solutions."

About Aegis Media North America:

Aegis Media, part of the Aegis Group plc, has unified some of the world's leading marketing and media services brands to help create measurable competitive advantage for clients in the converging media and communications world. Globally, our group is built around five network brands including Carat and Vizeum (both delivering full service Communications Planning and Media Buying), Isobar (Creative and Communications), iProspect (Performance and Search Marketing) and Posterscope (Out-of-home Planning and Buying).

In North America the group is enhanced by regional best-in-class specialists including Team Epic (Sports Lifestyle and Experiential Marketing) and Copernicus (Marketing Consulting).

About iProspect

iProspect is a leading global digital performance marketing agency.  The company helps many of the world's most successful brands maximize their online marketing ROI through research, pay-per-click management, search engine optimization, performance display, comparison shopping management, local search, mobile, social media management, and other related services. The agency, which is part of Aegis Media, has received numerous industry awards including: The 2010 ClickZ Connected Marketing Award for Best Use of Search Engine Marketing; The 2009 Search Engine Strategies Award for Best Social Media Marketing Campaign; The 2009 Search Engine Strategies Award for Best Use of Local Search. With offices in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, and around the globe, iProspect can be contacted at 1-800-522-1152, or by visiting www.iprospect.com.  

SOURCE Aegis Media North America