NEW YORK: MWW has acquired software and product development company Ideation and appointed its founder Robert Dilio as the agency’s chief technology officer.
In the newly created role, Dilio will report to MWW president and CEO Michael Kempner. He will work closely with the firm’s social media, analytics, and creative teams to expand MWW’s technology and digital offerings using real-time data and behavior analytics tools.
Ideation’s team of three full-time staffers, including Dilio, will join MWW’s New York office. The company also employs 10 part-time consultants, and MWW is working through the details of bringing some of them over to the agency.
Ideation’s clients include Twitter, Pet360, and Entertainment Weekly.
The main objectives of MWW acquiring Ideation are to "offer unique campaigns using real-time data and behavior analytics and to continue to create industry-leading intellectual property," Kempner explained.
Dilio said he was attracted to MWW because of aspects such as its creativity and analytics. The only missing component to make MWW a full-service digital agency was technology, he said.
"With some of the current clients MWW already has and the expertise and IP we build, we can tap into in real time what somebody thinks about a brand or product or really any topic of interest and do real-time PR, which is extremely powerful and exciting," Dilio added.
The deal, which has been in discussion for about a year, became official last week. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
