GroupM announces acquisition of IEG Inc

26 Apr 2006

WPP's GroupM today announced the acquisition of Chicago-based IEG, Inc., the world's leading provider of research, analytics, strategic counsel and training on sponsorship, strategic alliances and promotional partnerships.

IEG’s groundbreaking metrics embed predictability and accountability into sponsorship, allowing companies to value, maximize and measure their participation in sports, arts, entertainment, experiential, on line, affinity and cause marketing.

"Sponsorship is tailor made for a world where consumers are in control. It communicates without interrupting and allows brands to build financial and social capital by partnering with the organizations and experiences that their customers love," said IEG co-founder Lesa Ukman, who becomes IEG’s Chairman.

"IEG’s ability to transform sponsorship from an intangible expense to a measurable investment is spot-on with GroupM’s commitment to increasing the productivity of client expenditures through integrated, channel-neutral communications," said Charles Courtier, Executive Chairman of Mediaedge:cia, on behalf of GroupM North America.

"We selected to work with the GroupM agencies over the other bidders because their leadership, capabilities and geographic reach are simply unmatched," said Laren Ukman, who becomes CEO of IEG. She will report to Courtier. All IEG employees will be retained.