Publicis Groupe Acquires VIVnetworks to Create World’s Largest Performance-Driven Affiliate Marketing Solution

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] today announces the acquisition of VIVnetworks, the leading affiliate marketing agency in Central and Eastern Europe. With a client portfolio of over 900 merchants across 27 countries, VIVnetworks helps e-commerce brands scale their performance marketing efforts to drive more online sales and unlock growth in Central and Eastern Europe, and globally.

Global ad spend within affiliate marketing is $14 billion and growing, expected to be $15.7 billion in 2024. Affiliate marketing has increasingly become an important part of the commerce ecosystem, converging technology and partnerships to create valuable shopping engagement and drive profitable growth.

VIVnetworks will be integrated with Publicis Groupe’s global performance marketing platform, CJ, to provide the world’s largest performance-driven affiliate marketing solution.  Working in tandem with Publicis Groupe’s recently acquired entities, Profitero and CitrusAd, as well as its leading identity solution Epsilon, this expanded affiliate marketing capability will supercharge the Groupe’s overall commerce offering and leverage in-depth consumer and product intelligence to deliver more personalized value, rewards and recommendations across all touchpoints of the purchase journey. Publicis Groupe’s Power of One approach will also give clients borderless and seamless access to best-in-class services and technology in the affiliate marketing industry.

The combined capability of CJ and VIVnetworks will create unique opportunities for global brands and publishers to activate and grow within Central and Eastern European markets while simultaneously supporting those within the region to expand internationally. It will also serve as a regional center of excellence for advertisers, publishers, and agencies to provide strategic guidance via dedicated data science, product, engineering, publisher development, and fraud prevention teams. Further, it will officially combine two companies that have been collaborating and creating award-winning affiliate marketing programs together for decades.

VIVnetworks will be integrated into CJ’s Continental European offering and operate under the leadership of Tobias Allgeyer, Senior Vice President EMEA, based in Munich. VIVnetworks’ founders, Vladan Hejnic, CEO, and Robert Studený, COO will join CJ’s executive management for Central and Eastern Europe.

Mayuresh Kshetramade, CEO, CJ said: “A decade ago, CJ started partnering with VIVnetworks to harness the agency’s vast expertise in affiliate marketing within Central and Eastern Europe. I’m pleased to say that continues to be a huge success. VIVnetworks have not only operated and developed expertise in the region, they’ve matured the affiliate industry. Now, under CJ’s unified umbrella, VIVnetworks and CJ will fully combine to help our clients – advertisers, publishers, and agencies – win in commerce with unparalleled regional and global performance marketing expertise supported by our internationally renowned capabilities in data, technology, and partnerships.”

Vladan Hejnic, Founder and CEO, VIVnetworks said: “The integration of VIVnetworks within CJ marks a merging of expertise. CJ is a global performance network and technology platform with local expertise worldwide. By joining CJ, the VIVnetworks team will enhance that expertise, becoming a core strength in Central and Eastern Europe to benefit VIV, CJ, and Publicis Groupe’s global clients. In addition to CJ’s ability to offer our advertising brands action-based insight on trends, best practices, and local-level knowledge around the world, our brands will gain greater access to Publicis Groupe’s commerce transformation through CJ’s expert teams – data science, product, engineering, publisher development, and fraud prevention to name a few.”