Today, Publicis Groupe announced its acquisition of VIVnetworks, the leading affiliate marketing agency in Central and Eastern Europe, which will integrate with global performance marketing platform CJ.
With a focus on Central and Eastern Europe, VIVnetworks helps e-commerce brands scale their performance marketing efforts and unlock growth in the regional market, as well as globally. The agency currently possesses a client portfolio of 900 merchants across 27 countries.
The integration of VIVnetworks with CJ will open up new opportunities for global brands and publishers to activate and grow within Central and Eastern European markets whilst also supporting those within the region to expand internationally.
VIVnetworks will be integrated into CJ’s continental European offering and operate under the leadership of Tobias Allgeyer, Senior Vice President EMEA, based in Munich. VIVnetworks’ founders, Vladan Hejnic, CEO, and Robert Studený, COO will join CJ’s executive management for Central and Eastern Europe.
Mayuresh Kshetramade, CEO at CJ, says of the acquisition:
“A decade ago, CJ started partnering with VIVnetworks to harness the agency’s vast expertise in affiliate marketing within Central and Eastern Europe. I’m pleased to say that continues to be a huge success. VIVnetworks have not only operated and developed expertise in the region, they’ve matured the affiliate industry. Now, under CJ’s unified umbrella, VIVnetworks and CJ will fully combine to help our clients—advertisers, publishers, and agencies—win in commerce with unparalleled regional and global performance marketing expertise supported by our internationally renowned capabilities in data, technology, and partnerships.”
Vladan Hejnic, Founder and CEO at VIVnetworks, comments:
“The integration of VIVnetworks within CJ marks a merging of expertise. CJ is a global performance network and technology platform with local expertise worldwide. By joining CJ, the VIVnetworks team will enhance that expertise, becoming a core strength in Central and Eastern Europe to benefit VIV, CJ, and Publicis Groupe’s global clients. In addition to CJ’s ability to offer our advertising brands action-based insight on trends, best practices, and local-level knowledge around the world, our brands will gain greater access to Publicis Groupe’s commerce transformation through CJ’s expert teams—data science, product, engineering, publisher development, and fraud prevention to name a few.”
We look forward to seeing how this acquisition will benefit clients of both companies.
