• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 8, 2013

Just months after its September 2012 acquisition of San Francisco-based Black Bag Advertising, U.K. digital media shop Essence Digital has moved further up the West Coast, acquiring Seattle-based Point Reach. The deals are part of Essence’s expansion into the U.S. marketplace, and its goal of becoming a significant player in the U.S. digital media services marketplace.

Terms were not disclosed, but the addition of Point Reach brings Essence’s U.S. organization to about 100 staffers, and adds some important mobile media capabilities to its services portfolio.

“They give us extra breadth on the client side, and more depth in local mobile services,” says Richard Mooney, partner and managing director of North America at Essence.

On the client side, Point Reach has already shared some notable accounts with Essence, such as eBay, but brings in some important online retailers, such as Walgreens.

On the mobile services front, Mooney says Essence already had a strong offering, but the addition of Point Reach “just strengthens it. It's just rounding out what we’re capable of doing. And in the next few years, I suspect we will be doing more and more mobile work.”

Mooney said Essence is ambitious about growing its U.S. presence, especially given the number of big U.S. clients it already handles, and that the plan is to expand via a mix of “organic” growth and selective acquisitions.

In addition to eBay and Walgreens, Point Reach’s roster includes AT&T, Disney and StubHub.