• by December 23, 2004

Yesterday's Minute on Aegis Group's acquisition of search services provider iProspect prompted a swift response from our friends at aQuantive, the holding company for Avenue A/Razorfish, iFrontier, Atlas DMT, and DRIVE pm.

The folks at aQuantive wrote to say that they've been predicting that the search market would consolidate for some time, and that search is now part and parcel of any online advertising and marketing strategy. As such, it's an integral part of the overall media mix.

The aQuantive team pointed out, quite rightly, that it placed its bets on search a year ago when the company acquired search technology provider GO Toast and search engine marketing agency eOnMedia. The team wanted to let us know that its prescience in this regard, is noteworthy.

These moves, according to aQuantive, whose Avenue A is generally acknowledged as the biggest independent buyer of online media including search, along with combining Avenue A's in-house paid search and search engine optimization expertise with eOnMedia, mean the agency can offer clients a dedicated, in-house search practice. In-house search practice Avenue A/Razorfish Search launched in October. So aQuantive precedes Aegis' Isobar unit in offering a complete search practice. We sense a healthy competition taking shape.

Interestingly, aQuantive notes that while the Isobar brand of digital services is known in Europe, it is far less known in the United States, something that Sarah Fay, president of Isobar in the United States, readily acknowledges. It is, most likely, what she will be working to change in 2005. There is no doubt, however, that Aegis wants Isobar to be the standard-bearer of its digital marketing services globally and iProspect's technology and services will be a key driver of the strategy.

Meanwhile, we know that aQuantive has no plans to cede its leadership in search to any other player. The newly created Avenue A/Razorfish Search unit is acknowledged as one of the top five players in paid search management, recognition it received from JupiterResearch this fall. We're also looking forward to observing the strengths of Avenue A's acquisition of Razorfish, in action in 2005.

The Online Minute will be on vacation next week, but will return on Monday January 3.