ZenithOptimedia Canada has been chosen as one of the 14 initial expansion markets for Publicis Groupe’s Performics performance marketing division.

Acquired by Paris-based Publicis in 2008 from Google, Performics has been operating within Publicis agencies in the US for two years. The Chicago-based company specializes in performance-based digital marketing, focused on paid search, SEO, social media, display and mobile.

ZenithOptimedia has been using a selection of Performics’ tools for about a year, but this week’s announcement marks the official incorporation of the full Performics arsenal into ZenithOptimedia Digital, the division’s president, Veronica Holmes, tells MiC.

Performics Canada will function as a separate unit within ZenithOptimedia Digital and will be led by Kerstin Baker-Ash, previously the digital division’s head of search.

Baker-Ash’s team has been created out of the agency’s existing roster of search experts, and although expansion of the team is slated for the future, its current strength is one of the reasons Canada was selected as a first-phase launch market, Holmes explains.

‘Our Performics team will handle all search and performance marketing campaigns,’ she says. ‘The performance marketing tools that Performics brings to the table are world-class and will allow us to provide very deep insights and real-time optimization for cost-per-click, cost-per-acquisition campaigns.’