Mercury Media Heads To The Web With Acquisition
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Mercury Media CEO John Barnes
Mercury Media, which has an office in Marlborough, has focused on direct response television advertising since its founding in 1989.
But that focus is evolving. The California-based firm recently acquired a full service digital agency in New Jersey called iMarketing, a move that Mercury’s CEO said allows the company to integrate online and offline offerings and will mean some new projects in Marlborough.
Across Channels
John Barnes, Mercury’s CEO, said his company has worked with a number of internet ad agencies over the years, including iMarketing, but said Mercury has built its name in the direct response television advertising business since its 1989 founding.
Direct response, he explained, is any advertising that urges viewers to call a phone number or visit a website or store. Infomercials are only a part of that, Barnes said. The genre is fairly broad.
“Where you’re trying to drive a very measurable response to a particular product or lead generation to a website,” Barnes said.
Direct response television advertising in the United States is a $1.5 billion industry, according to Nielsen, which also found that the total number of direct response ads grew 18 percent between 2007 and 2010.
But as important as television still is to advertisers, it goes without saying that online advertising has become a major consideration for many.
Television and the web are becoming increasingly intertwined, with streaming video services like Hulu and Netflix, among other developments. And more purchases and leads are coming from the Internet, he said.
Mercury had experience with the web through partnering with other firms, Barnes said, but it wanted to establish a deeper presence.
“We believe [the web] is a critical part of our future because we see the convergence of television and digital and we see it with our clients as well,” he said.
Some of those clients include names like Zumba Fitness, The Wall Street Journal, workout product P90X, 1-800Flowers.com and various Las Vegas casino properties.
Barnes would not disclose financial details about his firm’s acquisition of iMarketing, but said it adds 30 employees, bringing Mercury to about 160 across the country.
Innovation In Marlborough
Many of Mercury’s offices around the United States each serve a specific function.
For example, the company’s Santa Monica, Calif., office handles so-called “long-form” direct response ads – which are generally 30 minutes long – as well as Spanish language ads.
In Marlborough, where Mercury has approximately 25 employees, the focus is on short-form (two minutes or less), performance-guarantee clients.
What that means, Barnes said, is that Mercury guarantees a client that it can deliver a certain performance metric – such as cost per order – for a certain price.
The office has worked with 1-800 Flowers as well as Hoveround, a Florida-based maker of power wheelchairs, Barnes said.
He said his Marlborough team takes “an entrepreneurial approach” to its projects, and often ends up being the team that tests out or incubates new company initiatives.
“I think the digital component will accelerate the success of those business initiatives,” he said.
WBJ Web Partners
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