Digital marketing agency Brainlabs, a portfolio company of private equity firm Livingbridge, has acquired Canadian programmatic agency MediaNet.
The acquisition signals further North American expansion for the group following the appointment of ex-iProspect leader Jeremy Cornfeldt as CEO, North America earlier this year. Brainlabs’ global portfolio of clients includes the likes of Adidas, Mars, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Merging with MediaNet will strengthen the group’s existing programmatic capability and add deeper expertise in Google’s MarTech stack. Brainlabs will also benefit from MediaNet’s creative production services to enhance social and programmatic advertising. An agency built for the future, MediaNet is differentiated in the market for their consultative approach and ability to build successful partnerships with in-house teams. Clients of the company include Aviva, Bank of Montreal and Postmedia.
Over the coming months, and with the leadership of MediaNet’s CEO, Julia Amorim, the team will become the specialist programmatic and dynamic creative branch of the Brainlabs group, supporting clients across North America.
Originally founded in 2003 as part of Casale Media; MediaNet was spun out as an independent buy-side media agency in 2015. The company employs a team of specialists from their Toronto office and are one of a handful of independent Google Marketing Platform resellers in North America.
Brainlabs was founded in 2012 with a mission to become the best digital marketing agency in the world. Through its scientific approach and client-centric model, the business has grown from 1 to 500 people, placing 1st in Deloitte’s Tech Track Fast 50 and 4th in the Financial Times fastest-growing companies. In 2019, Brainlabs secured investment from private equity firm Livingbridge in order to support an accelerated growth strategy. As of today, the agency’s footprint spans the UK, North America and Singapore.
Jeremy Cornfeldt, CEO, North America of Brainlabs, says: MediaNet is a perfect fit for Brainlabs and will help us expand against our strategic initiatives in North America. Off the back of their market-leading services in programmatic, creative and GMP, they’ve built a fantastic business coupled with an amazing reputation. We look forward to welcoming MediaNet to the Brainlabs team.
Julia Amorim, CEO of MediaNet, adds: “Today more than ever, brands need to harness a holistic understanding of the consumer journey and build strategic communications around that ubiquitous, multi-channel universe. We are thrilled to be joining forces with Brainlabs whose market-leading solutions and stellar reputation in search and social will naturally compliment our core capabilities and help strengthen our digital marketing services offering to clients across North America.”
