Doubling down on first-party identity technology with second acquisition of 2020

Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired 4Cite Marketing, a leading people-based identification and data services technology company. 4Cite will join Merkle, a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing company and part of Dentsu Aegis Network.

Founded in 2010, 4Cite is a leading data services technology company in the eCommerce sector. All 50 employees, located in Albany, N.Y. and Peterborough, New Hampshire, will join Merkle.

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4Cite has capabilities that helps retailers influence purchase activity by reaching more customers with personalized engagements. Its proprietary technology platform aggregates and distills personally identifiable actions using advanced analytics and real-time decisioning to understand when to best market to each consumer and trigger individualized content. 4Cite is also a repository of first-party consumer information captured across its client and partner base. The resulting 4Cite Data Network enables a broader, in-depth understanding of each individual, which supports Merkle’s focus on growth in its identity technology capabilities.

“Merkle is making a priority of investing heavily in first-party data technology to provide and sustain highly accurate identity solutions for our clients,” said John Lee, chief product and data officer at Merkle. “The addition of 4Cite to the Merkle family will further enhance those capabilities as we position Merkle and Dentsu Aegis Network to be the authorities in people-based marketing of the future.”

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“4Cite represents a unique opportunity for Merkle to obtain a growing, profitable business that will simultaneously create new identity resolution capabilities for Merkle’s marketing technology business,” said Craig Dempster, president, Merkle Americas. “The 4Cite acquisition plays a critical role in the future-proofing of our platform in a world where the third-party cookie is crumbling”

The acquisition of 4Cite further bolsters Merkle’s role as a leader in identity technology. 4Cite will also enable M1, Dentsu Aegis Network’s people-based insights, planning, and activation platform, to build an identity graph that delivers scale, deterministic matches, and persistent identity based on first-party cookies. 4Cite’s technology reinforces Merkle’s media business, providing clients with a viable path to execute addressable media campaigns outside of walled gardens.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Merkle family. Our two organizations share the same strategic vision of the marketing landscape and have complete alignment on the role of first-party identity in today’s marketing landscape,” said Bob Gaito, 4Cite CEO. “Combining our capabilities in this area with the already rich Merkle assets puts us in an enviable position to excel in the years to come.”

The business will continue operations under the name 4Cite. Gaito will take the role of chairman reporting directly to Eugene Becker, chief data officer, Merkle.

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