• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 27, 2010

Bonn, Germany-based Deutsche Post acquired nugg.ad AG, Europe's largest targeted online ad platform, earlier this month for an undisclosed sum. Nugg.ad will continue to operate independently as a Deutsche Post subsidiary, which runs a large direct mail operation, as well as the courier delivery service DHL Express.

Nugg.ad relies on "predictive behavioral targeting," for companies like Loreal, Knorr, Bauer Media, and Avis. Its Web site displays the European Privacy Seal of approval, valid through September 2011. The platform integrates surveys with machine learning, predictive analytics and targeting.

The BT market continues to heat up in Germany. Deutsche Post's purchase follows AudienceScience's acquisition of Wunderloop.

Advertising plunged 13.1% in 2009 throughout the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report released earlier this month. The firm projects the market to stabilize in 2010, and then turn around. During the next five years, advertising will increase at a 3.7% compound annual growth rate to $148 billion in 2014 from $123 billion in 2009, according to forecasts.

Atul Patel, OneScreen CEO, says the ad industry will begin to see more "odd combinations" of acquisitions. Nugg.ad will give Deutsche Post's subsidiaries the ability to direct target mail online. It bridges mail expertise with targeting ads.

Those wondering if Deutsche Post bought into a minefield because of the tracking technology probably don't know Deutsche Post operates on the edge with cutting technology. In a press release, the company says the investment in targeting technology consolidates new areas of growth in online marketing in accordance with Deutsche Post's 2015 strategy.

That strategy in mid-2000 consisted of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for DHL Express, a Deutsche Post division and business unit. The postal carrier became an early adopter, testing and using RFID technology to track packages. The company began to develop in June 2005 a global IT infrastructure that would let it affix, by 20015, a RFID tag on every package it ships. The goal, at the time, focused on gaining tighter control of shipments, cutting costs, and improving operating performance by reducing paperwork and data collection.