Aspen Marketing Services, the nation’s largest marketing services firm, has been sold for “at least $345 million,” according to The New York Times.
The acquisition by the Epsilon unit of Alliance Data Systems underlines the growing role of marketing services in selling consumer products. Aspen’s specialties include direct marketing, digital marketing and the analytics that advertisers use to look for — and try to keep — customers. Epsilon offers consulting, loyalty marketing, Web design and search engine optimization.
The $863 million of revenue for the two companies would have ranked the combined operation ninth on the Ad Age list last year, leapfrogging No. 10, MDC Partners, at $698 million.
According to DMNews, Aspen’s clients include Sears Holdings Corp., ConAgra Foods, Ford Motor Co., McDonald’s, Motorola, AT&T and Discover Bank.
Alliance opted to merge the units under the Aspen brand because of its “significant brand equity,” said Shelley Whiddon, director of external communications at Alliance. It could also have something to do with the fact that Epsilon was recently in the news after hackers stole reams of names and email addresses from the company.
