Performance marketing firm Criteo has signed a definitive agreement to acquire ecommerce HookLogic.
HookLogic helps consumer brands place ads on e-commerce sites, working with retailers like Walmart, Target, Costco and Best Buy.
The firm lets retailers sell sponsored ad placements on their web pages when shoppers search for a product on their sites.
Consumer brands bid to place these cost-per-click ads across HookLogic’s network of e-commerce sites.
HookLogic shares the ad revenue it collects with the e-commerce sites it partners with.
Retailers earn revenue by monetizing their site traffic via these Cost-per-Click (CPC) based native ads. Unlike traditional advertising tactics, HookLogic’s ads link manufacturer marketing spend directly to retail sales.
“With HookLogic’s acquisition, Criteo is adding a complementary performance marketing solution to its portfolio, focusing on delivering more value to brand manufacturers and retailers alike,” said Eric Eichmann, CEO Criteo. “We are excited to help develop the HookLogic platform with our own sophisticated technology and to bring their solution to marketers across the globe. Jon and his team at HookLogic are some of the best minds in performance advertising and we are thrilled to welcome them to the Criteo family.”
“We are thrilled to join the Criteo team, who share our passion for transparent, accountable, and relevant marketing,” states Jonathan Opdyke, CEO HookLogic. “Criteo’s global scale, extensive client base, unmatched technology and team provide a tremendous opportunity to rapidly accelerate HookLogic’s business and expand performance marketing solutions for our clients.”
Criteo will integrate its technology for predictive bidding and product recommendations into HookLogic’s products, bringing increased campaign performance to brand manufacturers and enabling retailers to further monetize their site traffic via the HookLogic Exchange.
HookLogic was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in New York, USA. HookLogic’s solutions will be maintained upon close of the deal ensuring continuity of its offering. The transaction remains subject to customary conditions and is expected to close in the 4th quarter of Criteo’s fiscal year, as described in Criteo’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Julie Langley, partner at industry M&A advisers, Results International commented on the move: “This is a brilliant move that further drives Criteo’s leadership position in performance marketing. Criteo’s customer base is predominantly travel and retail. In one fell swoop it has added the ability to tap into brand spend which it wasn’t able to do in a meaningful way before. The acquisition is even more inspired when you consider that brands are increasingly moving into performance spend, rather than focusing purely at the top of the funnel to drive awareness. In a comms world that has moved beyond the big TV slot, brands are now having to engage with consumers at every touchpoint and in any way that they can, tearing up the rule book along the way. We are seeing increasing interest in technologies targeted at brands and helping them engage directly with consumers, and this is a great example.
“With this deal under its belt Criteo is now an even bigger driver of retail spend. With two major acquisitions in just two days – Salesforce announced that it was buying Krux for $700 million yesterday – all this talk about the adtech sector being a disaster zone across the board is pretty wide of the mark. On the contrary, there is still huge strategic appetite for the right sort of assets. Both deals also shows how much of a chasm there is in adtech between the public markets and M&A markets.