Publicis Groupe has acquired Mars United Commerce, said to be the world’s largest independent commerce marketing company with over 1,000 employees based in 14 hubs worldwide.
Winning in commerce, by changing shopper behavior to drive business results, is increasingly a core element of marketeers’ winning strategies. But activating in commerce has become increasingly complex, as brands must navigate a fragmented array of channels, media, technologies and data. The combination of Mars and Publicis Groupe solves for this complexity by creating the world’s leading connected commerce solution, allowing clients to plan and activate through the full marketing funnel and increase sales at the point of purchase.
Founded in 1973, Mars helps marketeers make their products consumers’ top choice in online and offline shopper ecosystems.
Under the leadership of its CEO Rob Rivenburgh, Mars’ proprietary technology and solutions will further scale and supercharge Publicis’ existing commerce capabilities. Mars will be rolled into Publicis data business Epsilon.
Concretely, it means that Publicis Groupe clients can now create and implement end-to-end commerce solutions that optimize Strategy and Insights; Media and Activation; and Performance and Measurement.
Rob Rivenburgh, Global CEO of Mars United, said: “Joining Publicis Groupe will help Mars realize our vision of being the preeminent global commerce company faster and more completely. We’re excited to have the support of Publicis to bring new opportunities to our existing clients and also to share our connected commerce solution with new clients around the globe. We look forward to writing the next chapter of commerce together.”
Arthur Sadoun, Publicis Groupe CEO, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Rob and his incredible teams at Mars to Publicis Groupe. Their innovative spirit and proprietary platforms will further connect and complement our existing capabilities, to deliver industry-leading, end-to-end commerce solutions for our clients, both online and offline. With the acquisition of Influential this summer, and now Mars, Publicis is uniquely positioned to help our clients understand both existing consumers and future prospects, and connect that knowledge at an individual level to the new media channels that work hardest for their business: Connected TV, Commerce and Creators. All of this, in clients’ own ecosystems, giving them control over their customer relationships and transparency in their investments and outcomes.”
Publicis has been building expertise in key growth areas via acquisitions, including product data and analytics platform Profitero in 2022, Australian retail media player CitrusAd in 2021, technology and platforms company Epsilon in 2019 and influencer marketing company Influential earlier this year.
