• by Tameka Kee , November 19, 2007

Move over, Digitas and AKQA--there's a new one-stop digital marketing shop in town, and this one is independent.

New York-based Zeta Interactive boasts a combination of branding, search and direct marketing services, as well as the technology to implement them. Direct and e-mail marketing vet Al DiGuido will lead the company as CEO.

Backed by New York and London-based Investcorp Technology Partners, the newly formed Zeta Interactive is actually the result of e-mail marketing firm Zustek Corporation's acquisition of Adverb Media. Together, the two companies can serve clients like Time, Sony Electronics and Cephalon from the creative conceptualization and planning phase, to campaign implementation, to measurement and performance tracking. While financial details of the acquisition were not released, the deal had reportedly been in the works for nearly a year.

According to DiGuido, Zeta Interactive's advantage over other mid-sized competitors in the expanding interactive market is simple. "There aren't a lot of agencies that offer services and their own proprietary technology," DiGuido says. Those in-house platforms include Sonar, an online "buzz-tracking" tool; eBizMailer, an e-mail automation and analytics suite and the InsightGrit and FeedBlaster search management and optimization software, among others.

"The vision behind Zeta Interactive grows out of the companies' combined years of experience," DiGuido says. "We've found that if a client commissions you for one aspect of their strategy and you drive results, they often ask you to help them with another aspect. Whether it's customer acquisitions, search optimization, client retention or creative--these things are all interrelated. If you can provide them with a suite of best-of-breed technology and services, then they've got the keys to run a successful integrated marketing strategy."

DiGuido, former CEO of Zustek (and previously Epsilon Interactive), will lead Zeta Interactive's team of more than 300 employees at locations on both U.S. coasts, as well as a hub in India. Adverb Media's CEO Dan Lynn will stay on with the company as they hammer out structural and employee integration strategies in the coming months.