Ascential, the specialist events, intelligence and advisory company has entered into an agreement to acquire the commercial assets of Effie, the global benchmark in marketing effectiveness.
As part of the same, Effie will join Ascential’s LIONS Division (subject to regulatory approval) which champions creative marketing that matters, driving growth through creative, effective marketing.
With this acquisition in place, Ascential will also embark on a long-term partnership with the not-for-profit organisation, Effie Worldwide (subject to regulatory approval) which will be preserved and transformed into a new global Foundation- The Effie LIONS Foundation, dedicated to educating the next generation of talent, offering training for all marketing students, especially those under-represented in the marketing community.
Additionally, The Effie LIONS Foundation will provide a home for LIONS’ existing not-for-profit initiatives and provide access to some of the LIONS Division digital products, maximising reinvestment in the industry.
Providing insights from over 125 markets, in addition to tools and training, Effie in the modern day is believed to lead, inspire and champion the practice and practitioners of marketing effectiveness globally, hosting the largest, most robust and prestigious marketing effectiveness awards in the world.
Commenting on the development, Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential, said, “The coming together of LIONS and Effie is a powerful testament to the fact that effectiveness and creativity in marketing are inextricably linked. All enlightened businesses know that creative, effective marketing drives growth. This historic partnership will complement the insights and intelligence on marketing and creative effectiveness LIONS already offers via WARC, The Work and Contagious, providing marketing leaders worldwide with the data and evidence they need to make the case for creative marketing that matters. Meanwhile, the creation of The Effie LIONS Foundation, Inc. will educate and inspire our industry, and broaden the opportunities available to everyone to build a career in creativity and marketing.”
To this, Traci Alford, President and CEO, Effie Worldwide, added, “We are excited to join LIONS with such a complementary, yet distinct, portfolio of brands. Closer collaboration between Effie, as the definitive marketing effectiveness benchmark globally, and the LIONS brands is an exciting prospect for the industry as our ability to share insights and find synergies in our data will help to dissect the role creativity plays in driving marketing effectiveness overall. Together we will be able to better understand the key drivers of growth and ultimately help all businesses succeed.”
Most recently, it was also announced that one of the UK’s leading events and academic publishers- Informa had entered into an agreement to acquire Ascential, the owner of Cannes Lions Festival, Money20/20 and WARC amongst others, for a cash offer worth £1.2 billion.
