Partner Article

New suitors see bright future for Perfiliate

The new international owners of North East online marketing firm Perfiliate have vowed to grow the company – and its 70-strong workforce – from its Newcastle headquarters.

Last week we brought you the news that the company, which trades as Buy.at, was sold by its American parent AOL to Digital Window – a London-based joint venture between Swiss and German partners.

The deal was completed just two years after AOL bought the company and followed a period in which Digital Windows says its new acquisition had “lost its way”.

The acquisition will double the size of Digital Window, and, according to the firm, make it Britain’s “largest performance-based marketing company”.

Digital Window CEO Kevin Brown told bdaily that the board is currently reviewing its new resources in Newcastle, with the possibility of future expansion.

He also said there would be no immediate redundancies since some staff had opted to leave voluntarily prior to the takeover deal.

“Looking ahead I know that the Newcastle workforce will be kept as some had opted to take the Voluntary Separation Agreement offered by AOL prior to the deal. This also alleviates certain overlaps but we are currently in the process of assessing all areas and the allocation of resources and will have a clearer picture over time.

“Expansion could be on the cards but until we assess how Perfiliate will be structured we cannot say when or how this will take place. Moving out of the North East isn’t something we’ve considered as the company is based on its people and the vast majority of staff are based in Newcastle.”

He also said the firm had been attracted to Perfiliate because of its strong similarities to its own business interests.

He said: “The firm was just too similar to our own organisation in both the client base and company culture. It’s true that it had lost its way over the past 2 years under AOL but the key building blocks are still there. Its growth lies with its synergy to Digital Window where we now have the opportunity to offer clients a broader reach of publishers and market leading innovation and tools.”

Perfiliate, based in Newcastle’s Cathedral Square, was founded in 2002 and has produced marketing campaigns for the likes of O2 and Virgin Media.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .