Category: News

Infinite Global Sets the Stage for Its Next Era of Innovation and Impact with Investment Partner

PALAZZO served as exclusive financial advisor to Infinite Global Consulting, a leading international communications and reputation management firm, in securing an investment from ParkSouth Ventures, a Charlotte-based private investment firm. The investment will establish Infinite as a strategic communications platform and fuel the firm’s continued growth and expansion.

Since 2001, Infinite has supported the communications and reputation management needs of many of the world’s largest and most successful professional services firms. Led by a team of seasoned professionals across its New York City (headquarters), San Francisco, and London offices, Infinite works closely with its clients to provide strategic communications strategy, public and media relations, crisis and litigation communications, and thought leadership and content development.

The executive leadership team that includes Founder & CEO Jamie Diaferia, President Zach Olsen, and Chief Operating Officer Isabel Podda will continue to lead the Company in this next phase of growth.

“We have been singularly focused on building an agency that attracts and retains the best clients and talent in the industry, and that mission requires vigilance to keep pace with their needs. We decided several years ago that to further fulfill our potential we would need the right investment partner. In ParkSouth, we found an aligned partner that can add strategic value, as well as investment capital,” said Jamie Diaferia.

ParkSouth was founded and is led by Steven Ruoff and Richard Veal. The thesis-driven investment firm focuses on talent-centric businesses in the marketing and tech-enabled services categories.

“This investment reflects our focused effort to back a strategic communications firm that delivers the senior-level counsel organizations need to navigate complexity, reputational risk, and a constantly evolving media landscape,” said Steven Ruoff and Richard Veal, partners at ParkSouth Ventures. “The team, led by Jamie, Zach, and Issy, has built a truly exceptional business, and we’re looking forward to supporting their continued growth.”

ParkSouth has partnered with Michael Koziol, an experienced agency operator who will advise the company on operations, growth strategy, M&A, and integration.

“Jamie and the team at Infinite have built an incredibly special and valuable company that combines world-class strategic communications capabilities and a world-class company culture,” said Michael Koziol. “I am excited about the partnership and opportunity to support them in the realization of their ambition and potential.”

September 26,2024

PALAZZO Advises Donut Digital on its Sale to New Engen, a Portfolio Company of Insignia Capital Group
Full-service content studio delivers high-impact, social-first content across the customer journey, strengthening New Engen’s creative foundation
 
PALAZZO served as the exclusive financial advisor to Donut Digital, a creative-led performance marketing agency based in Manhattan Beach, California.
 
Founded in 2021, Donut Digital has established a reputation as one of the most innovative and fastest growing performance agencies through a highly differentiated creative-centric approach and efficient in-house production capabilities. Donut Digital’s acquisition will allow New Engen to create a full-service content studio, meeting client needs across all stages of the customer journey, from short form video and user generated content, to premium CTV/OTT content.
 
“We’re beyond thrilled to bring Donut Digital’s capabilities to New Engen as creative has always been one of the most important levers to drive brand growth,” said New Engen founder and CEO, Justin Hayashi. “Donut Digital’s unique ability to produce native, social-first content at high capacity for clients across numerous verticals will support New Engen in expanding our creative foundation. Together, we share a vision and are positioned to unlock even greater opportunities for our clients.”
 
Co-founders of Donut Digital, Alice Woo, Ari Jessel, and Brian Kim, who led Honey’s marketing before its $4B acquisition by PayPal, started their agency to address the challenges they faced as brand leaders. Their path mirrors that of New Engen CEO Justin Hayashi, who helped e-commerce company Zulily reach $1B in revenue before founding his own agency.
 
Donut Digital’s Alice Woo said, “We’re excited to join forces with New Engen. Our teams share a commitment to innovation and a deep understanding of what brands need today to succeed across digital platforms. This partnership allows us to continue delivering for our clients while expanding our capabilities with the media expertise and measurement talent that New Engen brings to the table.”
 
Following recent acquisitions of Acorn Influence and LT Partners, the addition of Donut Digital to New Engen’s portfolio is another step in the company’s vision of building a premier digital marketing agency.

“Working with PALAZZO throughout our acquisition process was an absolute pleasure. Their subject matter expertise and strategic insights were invaluable, but what truly set them apart was their shared ‘do whatever it takes’ mindset, which mirrored our own agency’s approach. More than just advisors, they were true thought partners, providing valuable insights at every stage and ensuring we made informed decisions. Their professionalism and commitment to excellence were evident in every interaction, and they worked with remarkable speed to keep the process on track. Thanks to their unwavering dedication and strategic guidance, we successfully closed the deal, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their partnership.” – Brian Kim, Co-Founder, Donut Digital

Additional Resources
Donut Digital New Engen Insignia Capital Group Press Release

Full-service media agency group will play a key role in expanding the capabilities offered by fast-growing MTP

PALAZZO served as exclusive financial advisor to True Independent Holdings, parent company of True Media, True Media Canada, Coegi, and RADaR, on its sale to Meet The People, the innovative alternative to the big advertising holding company model and a portfolio company of Innovatus Capital Partners. With offices in both the US and Canada, along with capabilities that include media planning and buying, a programmatic trading desk, and a data and analytics unit, TIH represents a significant addition to the growing MTP roster. With the completion of the deal, the agency and its subsidiaries will join VSA Partners, Public Label, Match Retail, Saltwater Collective and Swell Media as a full partner in the MTP agency group.

“Joining forces with TIH and its agencies is an important step in the evolution of Meet The People,” says MTP Founder and Group CEO, Tim Ringel. “It adds substantial scale, skill and technology access to our media offering representing our ambition of excellence for our clients, which will help all of our agency brands better serve our clients.”

Founded in 2005, True Media quickly built a reputation for strong strategically-based planning and aggressive client advocacy in media negotiations. Their forward thinking also helped them to stay ahead of the curve in performance media, leading to their launch of Coegi, a digital media and programmatic advertising agency, and RADaR, an ad performance data and analytics firm.

Now, as part of MTP, the TIH family of companies will anchor a robust offering of media services to MTP agencies while continuing to work with other independent agencies and clients across North America. MTP’s existing media agency Swell Media, will maintain their specialty in ecommerce and B2B under this new structure.

Founder and CEO of True Independent Holdings, Jack Miller, says, “This is an exciting time for all of us. Tim and the entire team at MTP have crafted an agency group that is both grounded in valuing the individual and focused on innovating the industry through independent agencies. It’s an approach that perfectly aligns with the ways we’ve always conducted business, and I’m eager to see what this new relationship will enable us to achieve.”

Under MTP’s innovative new organizational approach, all of the roster agencies can work closely together as a community in a single ownership structure, while retaining independence as a core strength to establish their own identity and culture. By combining entrepreneurially minded firms into one fully integrated platform, MTP is able to bring specialized services to clients, while providing fully integrated agency-of-record solutions to these brands at the same time.

“It’s an operating model that exceeds the expectations of clients in every way,” says Ringel. “It allows us to offer integrated thinking, better services, faster solutions, less friction and deep expertise, all in a collaborative and transparent manner. These are the things that make a real difference in the relationships between brands and their agencies.”

With the addition of TIH’s 200 plus employees, the combined operations will boast headcount of over 750 employees in both the U.S. and Canada. It continues MTP’s steep growth trajectory over the past few years, achieved with strategic and financial support from Innovatus Capital Partners LLC, the New York-based portfolio management firm.

“We’re thrilled to have TIH join the Meet The People agency group,” says Innovatus CEO and founding partner David Schiff. “Jack and his team have built some extraordinary companies, and we look forward to building something even more amazing out of these combined operations.”

“MTP has the kind of scale, focus and drive we were looking for,” adds Miller. “We’ve always been aggressive about business growth. Now we have an equally ambitious partner who can help us realize even greater potential.”

“PALAZZO’s expertise and guidance were instrumental in successfully marketing and selling our business. From the initial consultation to the final negotiations, PALAZZO’s professionals provided well-informed support every step of the way. They expertly helped us navigate the complexities of the process with confidence and achieve our desired outcome. – Jack Miller, Founder and CEO, True Independent Holdings

PALAZZO is pleased to announce the addition of Reuben Hendell as Senior Advisor, strengthening the firm’s M&A and strategic advisory practices focused on building shareholder value for leading marketing and technology services companies.

Reuben has a successful track record working with independent and PE-backed businesses in the marketing and technology services sector to improve shareholder value by optimizing business and acquisition strategies, as well as implementing required operational improvements in all facets of the business. Reuben has led and built some of the world’s most successful digital agencies including Digitas, MRM/McCann, GSI Commerce, and eBay Marketing. Recently, while at BlueAcorniCi Reuben led the effort with its private equity partner via a successful buy-and-build strategy to scale an ecommerce and marketing services powerhouse which later sold to Infosys.

“Reuben brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the firm, mostly from the perspective of having sat in the seats of our clients and buyers.” said founder Phil Palazzo. “The totality of his expertise and skills in strategy, corporate development, performance improvement, agency growth and execution will be a tremendous asset for our clients.”

“I am excited to join PALAZZO and help support their continued effort to be the preeminent marketing and technology services M&A platform for middle market companies looking for their next stage of partnership and growth while helping them achieve premium value and the right partner.”

Reuben earned an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA from Colgate University where he continues to serve as a senior advisor to “Thought Into Action”, Colgate’s entrepreneurial academy.

The acquisition of Giant Machines will greatly expand Deloitte’s end-to-end digital product strategy and development capabilities

PALAZZO is pleased to announce it has served as exclusive financial advisor to Giant Machines, a leading software engineering and digital solution company based in New York City, on its sale to Deloitte. The Giant Machines business is focused on strategizing, designing and engineering innovative digital products, and will help bolster Deloitte Digital and Deloitte Engineering capabilities to offer clients a robust suite of services to deliver strategic and scaled engineering solutions.

Since its founding in 2015, Giant Machines has specialized in many aspects of product design and development, including market and user research, product strategy, prototyping, engineering and design, and product management. The team has developed large-scale, custom solutions for Fortune 500 companies across a wide array of industries, including climate tech, health care, public utilities and more. Giant Machines is also focused on shaping the future of engineering talent through inclusive and custom learning experiences — which will become part of Deloitte’s existing, award-winning training programs.

“Today’s organizations need to deliver on innovation and technology to keep pace with customer expectations and competitors. The Giant Machines product incubation and solutions services will scale our Deloitte Engineering and Deloitte Digital capabilities to help our clients accelerate product delivery and shape the next generation of innovation,” said Tim Juravich, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP.

“We built Giant Machines into what it is today with a relentless focus on outcomes and by helping our clients to see a bigger picture,” said Roy Yang, Giant Machines CEO. “It’s that same philosophy that drew us to Deloitte. In joining Deloitte, I believe we can take our vision of creating tech that matters and advance it even further, providing greater opportunities for clients.”

Globant Shakes the Creative and Tech Industries by acquiring GUT, Cannes Lions 2023’s Independent Network of the Year

PALAZZO is pleased to announce it has served as exclusive financial advisor to GUT, Cannes Lions 2023’s Independent Network of the Year, on its sale to Globant. This acquisition will shape a partnership that will boost Globant’s technology and creative offering, taking it to a new level, and support GUT’s expansion to new markets and industries while leading the inception of technology into advertising.

“Technology and creativity have never been more closely linked than they are today,” said Martin Migoya, Co-founder and CEO of Globant. “We always say that Globant is where innovation, design, and engineering meet scale, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring the world’s most creative marketing and communications company into the mix. With this acquisition, we will be able to offer a unique blend of top-notch technology and bold ideas to brands from the very beginning of the creative ideation process.”

“We are thrilled to enter into this next chapter of our expansive growth powered by such an entrepreneurial and innovative partner as Globant, who will help us rapidly achieve the scale we’ve always dreamed about,” said Anselmo Ramos, Co-Founder and Creative Chairman of GUT. “Our mission when we founded GUT was to be the most diverse, creative, and influential agency Network ever, so we know that this reinvention with Globant will only accelerate that goal to hopefully becoming our reality soon.”

The five-year-old network has employees across seven offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Toronto, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Amsterdam. It has also attracted over 60 clients globally, including AB InBev, Mercado Libre, Google, Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola, and Tim Hortons.

This year, GUT was named Cannes Lions Independent Network of the Year after winning 35 Lions, including 3 Grand Prix, 8 Golds, 12 Silvers, and 12 Bronzes across its Network. GUT Buenos Aires was also named both Cannes Lions Agency of the Year and Independent Agency of the Year in 2023. And this fall, Adweek named GUT the Breakthrough Agency of the Year, as well as GUT Buenos Aires office as the International Agency of the Year.

GUT will remain operating as fully independent as it does today, and GUT’s leadership team will remain in place with a continued focus on building culture and driving growth. Both companies will work together identifying cross-selling opportunities and leveraging their unique skills to provide even more innovative solutions to their customers.

“Globant has been a trusted client for many years. We’ve done so many wonderful and successful things together as an agency and client, and now together, we know they will help us realize the dreams we’ve had since we were founded in 2018,” said Gaston Bigio, Co-Founder and Creative Chairman of GUT. “Ultimately, we’re excited to be part of the team that will propel us into the next phase of growth and success at GUT, and set us up for even more growth and success in the long term for our People and clients around the world.”

“GUT and Globant share a solid culture, endless passion for supporting their clients, and a strong commitment to bravery, creativity, and innovation”, said Martin Umaran, Co-Founder and Chief Corporate Development Officer of Globant. “In past years, Globant doubled-down on its inherent creative side of technology by adding marketing and advertising agencies such as Habitant, in Spain, Vertic, in Denmark, Ad_Bid, in Colombia, and KTBO, in Mexico. We have already merged these teams with Globant’s own Digital Marketing and Digital Sales Studios to create a new end-to-end Studio Network with an agency approach enhanced with AI and diverse and talented professionals. GUT will play a critical role in being part of this Network”, he added.

Both organizations are ranked among the top ten global organizations in their respective industries: Globant is the 8th strongest IT brand globally according to the latest Brand Finance report, and GUT is the most creative independent advertising network in the world according to Cannes 2023 Report – forming a powerful global creative tech company poised for even greater growth. Globant was also included by Fortune on its latest list of “100 Fastest-Growing Companies”, ranked first among peers in the Information Technology Services category and recognized for its revenue, profit and stock return over the last three years.