If you’re an agency, and M&A is all the rage in adtech right now, why shouldn’t you get in on it?
We saw that recently with Publicis buying Lotame, and now again with WPP announcing the acquisition of data clean room player InfoSum. It’s something of an incestuous reunion, as InfoSum’s former CEO, Brian Lesser, left the company about a year ago to join GroupM, WPP’s media investment group.
Per WPP’s release, the acquisition will “power the creation of a new generation of AI-enhanced marketing solutions for [WPP] clients, delivered through the industry’s most powerful and secure data infrastructure.” WPP also added that InfoSum gives its clients access to “the industry’s largest cross-platform source of privacy-safe, actionable data for marketing intelligence, audience targeting, and AI model training.”
Terms for the deal were not disclosed.
Why This Matters:
First, congrats to InfoSum and CEO Lauren Wetzel, who has been a strong, outspoken voice in adtech—especially since taking over from Lesser last year. She’ll stay on as Infosum CEO and take on the role as Chief Solutions Officer for GroupM. (Everyone there better learn what PETs are!)
Second, this matters from a data privacy standpoint in particular. To get usable AI, you need infrastructure that makes data collaboration possible, compliant, and safe. That’s what WPP is getting through the InfoSum deal.
The WPP release says the plan is to integrate InfoSum’s capabilities with WPP Open, the company’s “intelligent marketing operating system.” By doing so, WPP clients can “unlock the full potential of their customer data,” making it work with—and for—AI.
This is also a significant development for data clean room and data collaboration players. According to the IAB, about two-thirds “of companies leveraging privacy-preserving technologies are using DCRs.” Gartner estimates there are currently 250 to 500 active or in-development data clean room deployments.
Final thing: Clearly, a new administration has ushered in a new era at the FTC. Whereas a year ago, data clean rooms were being dinged by the FTC (for some odd reason), WPP clearly doesn’t see that being an issue moving forward.
Experts React:
Some key or interesting posts on X about the deal:
Our Take:
Who knows how a tariff-weighted economy will impact M&A in adtech and advertising, but clearly, agencies are eyeing an opportunity. Whether it’s Lotame, InfoSum, LiveIntent, Lockr—whoever—if you’re in the identity and data collaboration game, odds are you’re on someone’s acquisition list this year.
