Aiming to enhance its location-based ad network, Wi-Fi provider Boingo Wireless said Wednesday it has acquired start-up Cloud Nine Media, which offers Wi-Fi sponsorships at more than 6,000 airports, hotels, bars, restaurants and other public areas in the U.S. and Canada. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. San Francisco-based Cloud Nine was launched two years ago by Sebastian Tonkin, a former member of the Google Analytics team, and ex-Merrill Lynch investment banking analyst Henry Liu. Across its network of Wi-Fi hotspots, the company focuses on delivering ad sponsorships consisting of a branded splash screen, an interactive page with video or other media, and a third page featuring a call to action, like visiting a site or downloading an app. Clients include Google, Amazon, hotels.com, Old Spice and AOL. The vast majority (4,500) of Cloud Nine's Wi-Fi locations are in hotels, and the company says on its Web site it generates 6 million Internet sessions a month. Through the acquisition, the company will become part of one of the giants in the Wi-Fi space. Boingo operates some 500,000 hotspots globally reaching more than 1.5 billion people annually. Under the deal, Cloud Nine will be maintained as a separate brand and continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Boingo. Its eight-person staff of technologists and ad sales executives have joined Boingo as of today, with Tonkin assuming the title of director, advertising products and strategy. They will remain at their San Francisco location. The company said Cloud Nine will help it bolster its ad services, which are increasingly important as Boingo expands its Wi-Fi business to include more consumer-oriented hotspots like shopping malls, stadiums and restaurants. In the first quarter, Boingo reported its ad revenue fell nearly 33% from the year-earlier period primarily because of the lower level of sponsorships. Ad sales made up less than 5% of Boingo's first-quarter revenue of $24 million. In May, the company announced it was tapped by New York City to build out and manage Wi-Fi service in conjunction with Transit Wireless in the city subway system over the next five years. More recently, Boingo kicked off a partnership with Google Offers to sponsor free Wi-Fi at more than 200 hotspots in Manhattan, including six subway stations through Sept. 7. The company is announcing the Cloud Nine acquisition on the same day it is scheduled to report second-quarter financial results.
Performance Marketing Brands, an e-commerce rewards program provider from San Francisco, Wednesday announced the appointment of Stefan DeCota as SVP of sales. DeCota will lead the sales teams for all PMB properties. DeCota has more than 13 years of experience in the online rewards industry after working as SVP of business development and national media sales for MyPoint.com. "PMB is a very unique company in the online shopping rewards space," said Stefan DeCota in a statement. "I'm thrilled to be joining PMB at a time when the company is succeeding in its growth plans, and view this as a tremendous opportunity going forward." The success he is referring to is the $1.5 billion shoppers are expected to spend this year using PMB’s websites and programs. PMB also appointed a new CMO in May of this year, Amy Kennedy. "The recent additions to our team represent PMB's steady expansion and aggressive growth plans for 2012," said Kevin H. Johnson, PMB's CEO in the statement.
Specialty agency and San Francisco-based Stratagem Healthcare Communications was bought by Dudnyk, another healthcare marketing company, earlier this week. “Specialty companies, because of their focus, can truly benefit from the creative work and sustained dedication provided by independent creative firms,” said Dudnyk President Frank Powers in a statement. “We are thrilled to join Dudnyk,” stated Dudnyk’s new SVP, account management and strategy Susan Hemptstead. “And I can already see the synergies between our teams.” Dudnyk is headquartered in Philadelphia with offices in San Francisco and San Diego.