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Ascential plc, a specialist in events, intelligence and advisory has agreed to acquire the commercial assets of Effie, the global standard for marketing effectiveness.
Pending regulatory approval, Effie will become part of Ascential’s Lions Division, which promotes impactful creative marketing and drives growth through effective strategies.
Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential commented, “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.”
Effie hosts the largest marketing effectiveness awards, offering insights from over 125 markets along with tools and training.
Traci Alford, President and CEO, Effie Worldwide said, “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.”
Subject to regulatory approval, Ascential will initiate a long-term partnership with Effie Worldwide Inc, transforming it into a new global entity, The Effie Lions Foundation Inc. The foundation will focus on educating the next generation of marketing talent, offering training to all students, with a special emphasis on underrepresented groups. Additionally, the foundation will house Lions' existing not-for-profit initiatives and provide access to some of the Lions Division's digital products, maximising reinvestment in the marketing industry.
Headquartered in New York, with offices in Beijing and the UK, Effie operates through a network of 59 partners across over 125 markets. Traci Alford, President and CEO of Effie Worldwide will continue to lead the organisation.
