• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 12, 2014

Engauge Marketing and Moxie, two digital shops that are aligned with each other as part of Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia, are merging to form a single integrated operation under the Moxie brand.

Publicis acquired Engauge last August, when it was aligned with Moxie. At the time of the acquisition, Publicis said that combined, Moxie and Engauge would have more than 600 employees and comprise the largest array of digital marketing resources in the Southeast.

The shops provide services in the areas of strategy, creative, social marketing, media, data analytics and technology development.

“This is the next big step in our evolution as an agency,” commented Suzy Deering, CEO of Moxie. "We are now even better prepared to drive our clients’ successes by addressing their ever-changing needs from a data, technology and creative standpoint.”

Launched in 2007, Engauge was formed from the union of Ten United, a Columbus-based advertising agency with offices in Pittsburgh and Orlando; Spunlogic, a digital marketing services company in Atlanta; and Direct Impact, a data analytics and CRM company in Austin, Texas. The seller was Halyard Capital, the New York-based private equity firm, which was majority owner of Engauge.