Isobar (digital marketing agency)

Infobox Company
company_name = Isobar
company_
company_type = Division
genre =
foundation = 2003
founder =
location_city = London
location_country =
location =
origins =
key_people =
area_served =
industry = Advertising
products =
services =
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees = 3150
parent = Aegis Group plc
divisions =
subsid =
owner =
company_slogan =
homepage = http://www.isobar.net/
dissolved =
footnotes =

Isobar is the world's largest digital agency network. [ [http://www.recma.com RECMA's] Interactive Agency report (published February 2007) http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=62795.] It is part of Aegis Media and therefore a wholly owned subsidiary of Aegis Group plc.

Aegis launched its first digital business in 1995 in the UK. By 2000 it was operating in the top 10 markets of the world. Whilst being primarily focused on online media it had acquired some small creative assets in the US, Germany and Spain. An informal global management team was formed to help spread best practice and this became an important forum during the dotcom crash to ensure that the businesses were properly supported at that time. This helped ensure that as a group we went into the crash with 200 people and came out of the crash with 200 people.

When the first green shoots of recovery in online advertising were tracked at the end of 2002, the Group decided to undertake a wide ranging strategic review of digital marketing. Conducted during Q1 of 2003, this looked at our current business, the agency market, the consumer and future client needs.

As a result of this a separate division to align, integrate and manage all the digital assets within Aegis was created in May 2003. It was branded Isobar on 5 July 2004.

General Information

As of February 2008, Isobar has 2740 people working in a global network of over 100 offices in 37 markets. Each agency within the Isobar network is fully owned but retains their own branding and specialisations. Agencies which are part of the Isobar network include Farfar (Sweden), de-construct (London), glue (London), iProspect (US), Molecular (US), Freestyle Interactive (US), Marvellous (London), Netthink (Spain), Chewing Com (France), Xenion Interactive (Germany), Bookmark (Netherlands), Agencia Click (Brazil), Mindblossom (Canada), OneDigital (Australia), wwwins (China), AgencyW and ION Global (South Korea), Digithais (Thailand), Kirowski (Hungary) and others.

Corporate History

*July 2004: official launch of network under the Isobar brand [ [http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/156612/aegis-creates-international-digital-network.html Aegis creates international digital network | Internet Marketing News and Blog | E-consultancy.com ] ] and acquisition of Chinese digital agency wwwins [ [http://www.mad.co.uk/Main/News/Disciplines/DirectMarketing/People/Articles/ed5787e291f04bfdac800e1b59dc2841/Aegis-buys-digital-marketing-group.html Article at www.mad.co.uk] ]
*December 2004: acquired US search marketing firm iProspect [ [http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3450941 Aegis Acquires iProspect for $50M - ClickZ ] ]
*January 2005: acquired UK creative web build agency de-construct [ [http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3463781 Aegis Group Gets Creative - ClickZ ] ] and Swedish creative agency Farfar [ [http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3465121 Aegis' Isobar Adds Another Agency - ClickZ ] ]
*April 2005: acquired US web build and ecommerce specialist Molecular [ [http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3500756 Isobar Acquires Molecular for $31.5M - ClickZ ] ]
*August 2005: acquired UK creative agency Glue [ [http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,3604,1547426,00.html Aegis buys Glue London for £14m | Business | The Guardian ] ]
*October 2005: acquired Hungarian agency Kirowski [http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=54&id=2037202005]
*February 2006: acquired US word-of-mouth agency Ammo [ [http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/02/10/isobar_acquires_ammo_for_wom_marketing/ Isobar Acquires Ammo for WOM Marketing - MarketingVOX ] ]
*February 2007: acquired Brazilian digital agency AgenciaClick [http://www.adweek.com/aw/iq_interactive/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003549456]
*August 2007: acquired ION Global in Korea, Hong Kong (to merge with wwwins) and San Francisco (to merge with Molecular)
*November 2007: acquired Canadian full-service digital agency Mindblossom [ [http://www.mrweb.com/drno/news7620.htm Daily Research News Online article no. 7620 ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.isobar.net Official website]
* [http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8805c9f4-e636-11db-9fcf-000b5df10621,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F8805c9f4-e636-11db-9fcf-000b5df10621.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ft.com%2Fsearch%3FqueryText%3Disobar Profile in the Financial Times] , April 2007
* [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article1595910.ece Article in The Times Newspaper] featuring interview with Isobar CEO, April 2007
* [http://adage.com/images/random/agencyprofiles06.pdf Advertising Age magazine feature giving details of all leading agencies.] , May 2006 (See pages 6 and 7 for details on Isobar companies in the US).
* [http://www.nmatop100.co.uk/Top100/top_media.aspx Comparison of size of UK digital agencies by New Media Age magazine] , early 2006 [http://www.nmatop100.co.uk/Agency/default.aspx?liTop100AgencyID=113&sStylePage=top-media&sBackPage=top-media details on isobar]
* [http://www.adweek.com/aw/magazine/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000884424 April 2005 Comparison of US digital agencies by AdWeek magazine] (scroll down to see details on Isobar)
*Two part in-depth interview from January 2005 with US head of Isobar documenting early history [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/4964.asp Part 1] , [http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/4975.asp Part 2]