Accenture acquires digital content agency MXM

Accenture acquired digital agency Meredith Xcelerated Marketing in order to further bolster its digital customer experience offerings. Accenture is increasingly positioning itself to dominate within the advertising industry.

Accenture continues to purchase digital marketing agencies, positioning its digital marketing and advertising branch Accenture Interactive as an increasingly fearsome competitor to traditional ad agencies. In the past year, Accenture Interactive has absorbed a number of high-profile players, including award-winning Irish creative agency Rothco and visual effects company Mackevision, best known for providing the digital dragons and gore of ‘Game of Thrones.’

And while ad giants like WPP are dismissive of consultancies’ “creative aspirations” for now, Accenture nonetheless persists in its strategy of growing into the advertising and design sectors, giving its clients yet another service offering in its total consulting portfolio. And clients are responding: the Vatican recently chose Accenture Interactive to provide an integrated digital communications strategy, while Disney chose the firm to be a founding member of its innovation complex Studio Lab.

Accenture Interactive further bolstered its capabilities last month with the acquisition of New York-based digital agency Meredith Xcelerated Marketing. MXM was targeted because of its excellent data and analytics skills, as well as its award-winning content creation and substantial customer engagement abilities. Parent media company Meredith was also reportedly receptive to offers on some of its properties after its recent acquisition of Time Inc.

“The acquisition of MXM reflects our commitment to build on our existing capabilities in marketing services by bolstering our data and content offerings,” said Accenture Interactive head Brian Whipple. “The blend of MXM with our current capabilities and robust marketing intelligence platforms will set us apart as a leader to design, build and run the best customer experiences on the planet.”

MXM, formerly a part of media conglomerate Meredith Corporation, has a team of more than 450 people in the US and Canada. The agency has worked with notable clients including NBC, Kraft, and Volkswagen. MXM has won 27 Content Council Awards and a Golden Effie Award, and was named Content Marketing Agency of the Year in 2014.

MXM’s addition will strengthen Accenture Interactive’s studios in US markets – including Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C. Accenture Interactive, which helps brands shape “customer experience” in today’s “experience-led” economy, was deemed the world’s largest digital agency in the latest Ad Age Agency Report. It is part of Accenture, a tech-focused consultancy which employs 442,000 people and works in over 120 countries.

MXM President Georgine Anton commented, “We are thrilled to be joining the Accenture Interactive family. The combination of Accenture Interactive and MXM will be powerful in the market, plus the depth of their offerings will deepen our capabilities, enabling us to better serve both existing and new clients. Accenture Interactive will provide MXM with a home where it can offer clients best-in-class, single sourced, integrated solutions – this is a clear competitive advantage for Accenture Interactive and, now, MXM.”

The financial terms of the acquisition were not revealed.