• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 12, 2005

Media and marketing shop Carat Interactive today officially changed its name to Carat Fusion. The rebranding reflects the company's merger nine months ago with Carat Direct, another unit of Carat North America.

The combined entity has about 250 employees, including 25 in Chicago from the former Carat Direct, said Carat Fusion President Toby Gabriner. The former head of Carat Direct, Susan Rowe, was named executive vice president of integrated media for the combined entity.

Gabriner said that the company now integrates planning and buying for Web campaigns with traditional direct response ads by analyzing how site traffic and click-through rates correlate with traditional direct response ads. For example, if a TV ad directs viewers to a Web site, the company monitors whether site traffic rises soon after the airing of the ad.

The new approach started with the merger of the two divisions at the beginning of the year, but it took several months to build out the supporting technology--"a tracking backbone that really supports this holistic view of media that we're now taking," Gabriner said.

Carat Fusion's clients include Pfizer, Radio Shack, adidas, and Hyundai. The agency has $250 million in annualized billings.