Marketing powerhouse and publisher R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) has announced that it will acquire the digital print and marketing divisions of Vericast. Known specifically as Vericast Digital Marketing & Technology, it includes the company’s wide array of digital publishing assets.
Going down that list, it includes display advertising, contextual targeting, connected TV, mobile, digital out-of-home, social media marketing, email marketing, and local search. The deal also includes Vericast’s print marketing business, including coupons, shared mail, and free-standing inserts.
The move is logical from RRD’s perspective in terms of buttressing its existing and complementary operations. In that sense, it infuses more dimension to the bundle of marketing services that it can offer to its clients. For example, the combined targeted mail platform will be one of the largest in the U.S.
As for what this does for Vericast, one question this all raises is what assets and operations are left behind after its Digital Marketing & Technology assets are gone. Where will it focus, and what are its growth targets? Our take is that this likely provides Vericast with two key components: time and cash.
Fuel & Focus
Starting with the former, offloading publishing and marketing assets could empower Vericast to apply more resources to its NXTdrive platform, which appears to remain in place. And the cash generated this week could further support it. It’s about a combination of increasing fuel and lessening opportunity cost.
It’s also about putting more eggs into the scalable parts of Vericast’s business. As a software platform, NXTdrive could be an opportune horse to bet on. It’s not only where some of Vericast’s greatest strengths and competencies lie, but it could have a bright future, given the age of privacy reform.
For more dimension on the latter, see our coverage of the Localogy Place ’23 conference, where Vericast’s Hans Fischmann joined us on stage to talk about the rise of contextual targeting in the privacy era. This could be where the company’s sights are set in the wake of this week’s deal.
Back to RRD, in terms of additional context and a sense of scale, it works with 18,000 clients including 92 percent of the Fortune 100. Following this week’s definitive agreement, the transaction is subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions and is expected to close sometime in Q2.
