Ascential, the owner of Cannes Lions and WARC, has entered into an agreement to acquire the commercial assets of Effie, the global benchmark of marketing effectiveness.
Effie will join the Lions Division that focuses on creative marketing.
“The coming together of Lions and Effie is a powerful testament to the fact that effectiveness and creativity in marketing are inextricably linked,” said, Ascential CEO Philip Thomas.
Thomas added, “This historic partnership will complement the insights and intelligence on marketing and creative effectiveness Lions already offers via WARC, The Work and Contagious, providing marketing leaders worldwide with the data and evidence they need to make the case for creative marketing that matters.”
Ascential will also embark on a long-term partnership with the not-for-profit organisation, Effie Worldwide, Inc., which will be transformed into a new global foundation, The Effie Lions Foundation, Inc.
The new foundation will be dedicated to educating new talent and offering training for all marketing students, including those under-represented in the marketing community.
“The creation of The Effie Lions Foundation, Inc. will educate and inspire our industry, and broaden the opportunities available to everyone to build a career in creativity and marketing,” said Thomas
The Foundation will also provide a home for Lions’ existing not-for-profit initiatives and provide access to some of the Lions Division digital products.
Effie will continue to be led by Traci Alford, President and CEO, Effie Worldwide.
“We are excited to join Lions with such a complementary, yet distinct, portfolio of brands. Closer collaboration between Effie, as the definitive marketing effectiveness benchmark globally, and the Lions brands is an exciting prospect for the industry as our ability to share insights and find synergies in our data will help to dissect the role creativity plays in driving marketing effectiveness overall.
“Together we will be able to better understand the key drivers of growth and ultimately help all businesses succeed,” said, Alford.
Both moves, the acquisition and the foundation partnership, are yet to be approved by regulatory authorities.
