• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 7, 2008

The acquisition of search marketing firm Performics from Google catapults Publicis Groupe's burgeoning digital marketing services organization to either No. 1, or a close No. 2 behind rival WPP Group's GroupM Search in what has been the fastest growing sector of the advertising world. While terms of the deal have not been disclosed, Publicis insiders characterized the acquisition of Performics' 200-person organization as a substantial deal that bolsters its already hefty search marketing team, which to date has operated decentralized across its independent digital services brands such as Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia Group. It also gives impetus, new tools and an expanded roster of some 130 Peformics client relationships to Publicis' new VivaKi Nerve Center, which will focus on leveraging its search technology and expertise to bolster Publicis' existing search marketing capabilities and to expand into new markets, including one that has been the fastest growing, but somewhat elusive for most big Madison Avenue shops: the long tail.

"There local search are phenomenal," says Curt Hecht, the head of VivaKi's Nerve Center, who will oversee the integration of Performics. Hecht says Performics will simultaneously expand Publicis' search marketing capabilities among big clients, and small ones, and will accelerate its presence in rapidly emerging local, retail and social search markets, as well as internationally.

While Peformics also services a variety of ad agencies that ostensibly compete with Publicis, Curt says the big upside is by aligning with some top search clients that the two companies have had in commons, including H-P, and Verizon, and to figure out how to better integrate and deploy search marketing solutions throughout Publicis' entire network.

The deal also ties Publicis even more closely with search giant Google, which had to divest Performics, which it acquired as part of its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick last year, because its ownership of the search marketing services firm was seen as a potential conflict with many of the agencies Google does business with.

One of those agencies is WPP Group, which is believed to have been the other finalist bidding to acquire Performics - and acquisition that would have made WPP's burgeoning GroupM Search operations the undisputed giant in the field.

Interestingly, Publicis plans to integrate Performics in a way that is similar to how GroupM Search redeployed the search marketing organization of WPP's 24/7 Real Media team earlier this year. In February, WPP restructured 24/7 Real Media, separating its search marketing organization from its ad serving business, and redeployed the team across the disparate search marketing teams within branded agency units including Outrider, MindShare, Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom, and created new areas of search excellence to service specific client teams.

Publicis' Hecht indicated VivaKi would follow a similar model, and indicated the approach is part of a broader trend in the industry to leverage centralized expertise, tools and technology, while enabling branded media services units to focus on how to best utilize those resources for specific clients.