• by Erik Sass , July 13, 2010

A slew of acquisitions has not satisfied Meredith Corp.'s appetite for marketing companies. The women's magazine publisher announced its purchase of The Hyperfactory, a company specializing in mobile marketing, which will be incorporated into Meredith Integrated Marketing.

In July 2009, Meredith purchased a one-fifth stake in The Hyperfactory. The latest deal gives it complete ownership of the mobile marketer, which boasts offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney, Auckland, and Hyderabad, India.

Collaboration between Meredith and The Hyperfactory was made easier by the fact that both had major ad clients in common, including Coca-Cola, L'Oreal, Disney, and Kraft, even before Meredith took its original stake in the mobile marketer.

Recently, Meredith and The Hyperfactory unveiled a new iPad app for Kraft called "Big Fork Little Fork," which helps parents with age-appropriate recipes and menu suggestions for different stages of childhood. The companies have also collaborated on mobile sites for Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, and Fitness.

Remarking on The Hyperfactory acquisition, Meredith Integrated Marketing President Martin Reidy stated: "Mobile is a critical part of the marketing portfolio, and its importance is growing at an incredibly rapid rate. We focus our investments only on the leaders in the respective marketing disciplines."

Meredith began building its integrated marketing capabilities with the acquisition in April 2006 of O'Grady Meyers, specializing in customer-relationship marketing and Web site development.

In January 2007, it acquired Genex, an interactive marketing services firm specializing in online customer relationship marketing, and New Media Strategies, an interactive viral and word-of-mouth marketing company. In October of that year, it acquired Directive, a database strategy and analytics specialist, and the following June, it bought Big Communications, which specializes in health-care marketing.

Other magazine publishers have begun following suit with high-profile acquisitions, especially in the digital arena.

In early June, Hearst announced its acquisition of iCrossing, which offers digital marketing services include planning and development for Web, email, mobile and social-media marketing; it also operates an extensive marketing platform offering services such as bid management, SEO automation, display ad-serving and mobile advertising.