Another digital marketing agency gets acquired by ICT consulting group

Nextgen group CEO, John Walters (left) with Bang Australia's MD, Martin Mason

Yet another digital marketing agency has been snapped up, this time by IT integrator and services provider, NextGen.

Bang Australia, which was established in 2001 and focuses on communications and digital marketing services with an emphasis on the ICT channel, has been acquired by Nextgen for an undisclosed sum. In a statement, the companies said the move to integrate Bang’s capabilities into the Nextgen portfolio would bolster the latter’s capability to asset IT vendors and partners build sustainable businesses.

Bang founder and managing director, Martin Mason, told CMO the pair had been working together for three years following the launch of Nextgen’s marketing services arm, Nextgen Create, and saw an opportunity to join forces officially.

“Becoming a more integrated part of the group enables us to provide a more sophisticated set of solutions that embrace marketing through to sales,” he said. “ And of course, we’re also excited to continue working with our clients outside the IT sector, who range from not-for-profits to city councils.”

Mason added about 30 per cent of Bang’s total business sits outside the ICT realm. On the ICT front, clients include Cisco, Microsoft, Fujitsu and IBM.

Under the acquisition, Bang and its 15 staff will remain as a standalone entity with its own branding, recognised as part of the wider Nextgen group.

Nextgen group CEO, John Walters, said the move was about ensuring the company’s position in a fast-changing and evolving IT environment. Nextgen is among a new breed of channel players leading with a services and consulting bent, and calls itself an “IT aggregator and facilitator”.

“Bang is a serious and well-respected strategic marketing player, and this partnership is the next stage in that journey, adding scope and depth to our current digital marketing service, Nextgen Create,” he said. “This allows us to bring yet further value to both our vendor and channel partners at a time when their ability to connect with customers digitally is more important than ever.”

Nextgen GM of digital and marketing services, Scott Caulfield, added the deal allowed Nextgen to connect the dots through from marketing to sales performance and placed the integrator at the centre of vendor and partner relationships. As part of the deal, Caulfield joins Bang as COO.

“These insights and data analytics will also enable more reliable predictive modelling around trends in the IT ecosystem,” he said.

There has been a flurry of agency acquisitions in recent years as consulting houses and ICT integrators alike look to shore up their position in the digital and marketing services space.

Among the most recent acquisitions are Accenture’s purchase of creative and design agency, The Monkeys, along with digital agency, Reactive Media, Deloitte’s acquisitions of both digital communications player, The Explainers and martech integrator, Cinder Australia, and KPMG’s acquisition of market insights firm, Acuity Research and Insights.

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