MarketInk: San Diego’s Mindgruve Merges with Denver’s Macarta

Mindgruve, a San Diego-based digital marketing agency, has announced it has merged with retail media agency Macarta, based in Denver. The combined entity will be called MindgruveMacarta and have more than 300 employees and seven offices worldwide.

A statement said the merger brings together two, fast-growing agencies to unite their award-winning expertise in performance marketing, retail media and analytics into a seamless, integrated offering. “MindgruveMacarta is now one of the top independent, performance marketing and retail media agencies in the world,” a statement said.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. A spokesperson told Times of San Diego that the merger did not include an exchange of money. Also, no layoffs are expected following the merger. Mindgruve’s staff totaled about 100 people prior to the merger, the spokesperson said.

A statement said Chad Robley, CEO of Mindgruve, will become chairman and CEO of the combined agency. Mike Hodges, CEO of Macarta, will become president of MindgruveMacarta.

According to Robley, who founded Mindgruve in 2001, the two agencies have worked together as sister agencies on various client projects since Macarta was founded in 2016.

“We have been talking about a merger for a while,” Robley told Times of San Diego. “We both thought this was the right time based on client needs and the market. Our integration has been incredibly beneficial for clients and is becoming even more important as retail media and performance marketing converge.”

Prior to the merger, Mindgruve operated offices in San Diego and Denver, while Macarta operated offices in Denver, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Amsterdam, Madrid and London.

MindgruveMacarta’s current client base features a portfolio of brands, including Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Dupont, Sony, Mattel, 3M and Wrangler. A statement said MindgruveMacarta will offer industry expertise in consumer, consumer-packaged goods, business-to-business, healthcare, financial services and technology sectors, as well as platform experience in Google, Meta, Linkedin, Amazon, Walmart and Mercado Libre.

“This is a transformational moment for us,” said Robley. “As MindgruveMacarta, we are well positioned to attract ambitious global brands seeking a fully integrated, omni-channel approach to performance marketing, retail media, and advanced analytics.”

A statement said the combined entity will be led by long-tenured industry veterans with a strong track record of delivering dynamic growth for their global brand partners.

“Bringing together Mindgruve and Macarta’s expertise into a single, integrated offering creates a performance marketing and retail media juggernaut,” said Hodges. “MindgruveMacarta will give clients access to the most advanced media mix modeling, cross-platform attribution and in-depth data science.”

Jamul Casino Names Tom Malloy as VP of Marketing

Tom Malloy, with more than 30 years of marketing experience, has been named vice president of marketing at Jamul Casino, operated by the Jamul Indian Village of California, a federally recognized tribe of the Kumeyaay Indians.

A statement said Malloy will oversee all aspects of the East County casino’s marketing identity, including a focus on top-level strategic development that echoes the tribe’s primary goals of community involvement and guest expansion.

“His vast experience and innovative approach will bring dynamic new strategies to our marketing efforts surrounding the casino, as well as the opening of our new, luxury hotel tower in 2025,” said Mary Cheeks, president and general manager, Jamul Casino.

Malloy began his career as an advertising agency executive serving technology and healthcare accounts before entering the gaming industry in 1998. He has held leadership positions at several casinos, both tribal and commercial, including MGM Resorts International, Table Mountain Casino and Potawatomi Casino Hotel. Prior to Jamul Casino, he served as VP of marketing at Gun Lake Casino in Wayland, Mich.

“I’m very excited to join such an esteemed and highly regarded team of operators,” said Malloy. “I’m grateful to both tribal leadership and to Mary Cheeks for giving me this opportunity.”

PR Firm World’s Fair Communications Opens in Los Angeles

World’s Fair Communications, a new public relations communications agency targeting the entertainment and technology industries, has been launched in Los Angeles by founders Craig Radow and Eric Schultz.

World’s Fair will specialize in press coverage, media training, thought leadership, crisis communication, speaker development, brand identity and messaging, content strategy and reputation management, a statement said.

Radow is a former VP of global publicity and brand marketing at 20th Century Fox Studios’ consumer products division. He also has led publicity efforts for 20th Century Fox Television’s U.S. distribution division, as well as several PR roles in the home entertainment division of Universal Studios.

Schultz is a former news producer at CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg, CNN and Fox 5 New York. While working for a PR firm in Chicago, his clients included AI technology company Avanade, PepsiCo Food Service and Capital Group, a financial services company.

Prior to World’s Fair Communications, Radow and Schultz worked together at The Soul Publishing, which represents social media content creators, as well as at talent management firm Underscore Talent, a division of The Soul Publishing. Radow served as VP of global communications and Schultz served as senior director of global communications.

A statement said The Soul Publishing and Underscore Talent will become the new agency’s first clients.

Forecast: 90% of Ad Buys Will Be AI-Generated by 2029

GroupM, the media investment arm of global ad buying agency WWP, is reporting that nearly 70% of ad buys this year will be AI-enabled and the percentage will exceed 90% by 2029.

Previously, GroupM had predicted the percentage of advertising placement powered by AI would be 90% by 2032.

The sooner timeline is due to new investments in generative AI technologies, including machine learning and algorithms, according to a report in Medical Marketing & Media, a trade publication. Generative AI, or Gen-AI, refers to artificial intelligence capable of creating original content after learning patterns and structures in response to prompts.

Kate Scott-Dawkins, global president of business intelligence at GroupM, said she believes there is no other industry using AI as pervasively as the advertising industry.

The AI predictions were part of GroupM’s recent mid-year ad forecast, which now predicts global ad revenue growth of 7.8% to $989.8 billion in 2024, up from a previous December 2023 estimate of 5.3% growth.

The global advertising industry is expected to surpass $1 trillion dollars in revenue in 2025, one year earlier than forecasted in 2021.

According to GroupM, a strong performance in China will account for a majority of 2024’s uptick, with ad revenue in the world’s second-largest economy expected to grow by 14% to $199.4 billion in 2024, or $51.2 million higher than previously predicted. Group M also said ad industry growth is expected in the U.K., Germany, France and Australia.

U.S. ad revenue also is expected to exceed previous forecasts, with a projected increase of 5.8% to $365.9 billion in 2024, as reported by Radio Ink, a trade publication.

Rick Griffin is a San Diego-based public relations and marketing consultant. His MarketInk column appears weekly on Mondays in Times of San Diego.