• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, July 13, 2010

Continuing to bolster its digital marketing assets, Meredith Corp. on Tuesday announced plans to buy a remaining stake in mobile marketing firm The Hyperfactory. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will support Meredith Integrated Marketing, the company's business-to-business unit that provides corporations and brands with custom services.

"Mobile is a critical part of the marketing portfolio and its importance is growing at an incredibly rapid rate," said Meredith Integrated Marketing President Martin Reidy.

According to Nielsen, over 62 million people in the U.S. are using the mobile Internet on a regular basis.

The publisher bought a strategic stake in The Hyperfactory in July 2009. Since then, The Hyperfactory has done work for such clients as Kraft, Gerber and Acura. Derek Handley, co-founder and CEO of The Hyperfactory, said the deal will only accelerate such partnerships.

"Being a fully integrated member of Meredith Integrated Marketing will stimulate our own creative ideas, design and implementation capabilities," Handley said.

The Hyperfactory is also credited with helping to accelerate Meredith's consumer brand efforts in the mobile space by developing the mobile platforms for the Better Homes and Gardens, Parents and Fitness brands.

Founded in 2001, other clients The Hyperfactory has worked with include Coca-Cola, BlackBerry, Disney, L'Oreal and Vodafone.

Since 2006, along with The Hyperfactory, Meredith Integrated Marketing has added interactive marketing services firms O'Grady Meyers and Genex; viral marketing leader New Media Strategies; healthcare marketing communications specialists Big Communications; and database strategy and analytics experts Directive.

In contrast to the hasty M&A strategies of other media and technology companies, analysts credit Meredith's string of acquisitions for its consistent vision.

"If you look at the businesses that Meredith has acquired, they'll enjoy more synergies," Philip Palazzo, founder and CEO of Palazzo, a financial advisory and acquisitions firm for the marketing communications industry, recently told Online Media Daily.