Aegis Media Canada CEO Jacques Dorion announced yesterday that his company is acquiring Genesis Media as its ‘first building block in Canada to create the agency of the future.’
Founded in 1992 as an independent media planning agency, Toronto-HQ’d Genesis will be merged with Aegis Media Canada’s Vizeum to form an entity called Genesis-Vizeum, which will operate from offices in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. No financial details were disclosed.
Commented NYC-based David Verklin, CEO of Aegis Media Americas: ‘Genesis Media’s corporate culture of top-notch client service, collaboration and creativity, in addition to its entrepreneurial spirit, make it an excellent fit for our organization.’
The conglomerate Verklin heads is a leading group of media and marketing communication services companies that includes Carat, Vizeum, Carat Canada, Genesis Vizeum, Carat Latin America, MMA, Copernicus, Velocity, Vivid Marketing, Posterscope, Carat Brand Experience and Isobar (Freestyle, Ammo, iProspect, Molecular and bluestreak).
Dorion framed the merger this way: ‘The Canadian media business is projected to grow significantly in the next few years, particularly in Western Canada. With Genesis Media’s depth of experience in CRM, geo-marketing and data analytics, this partnership also expands our company’s client service offering significantly, and we are planning on expanding our operations even further in this market.’
As a part of Aegis Media Americas, Toronto-based Aegis Media Canada will now have two major media brands: Carat and Genesis-Vizeum. The combined operations have billings of close to $500 million and over 150 employees.
Those facts influenced the decision to merge with Aegis, says current Genesis CEO Bruce Claassen. ‘Our company has watched the success of Aegis Media closely. We have been impressed by the operation in Canada, and with the incredible global footprint it has established in the industry. We feel that joining the group will provide us and our clients with increased resources, services, buying power and global media capabilities.’
