• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, April 7, 2022

Dentsu has quietly dissolved the media operations of its 360i unit and folded them into its Dentsu X brand.

“The media side of the 360i business was pulled out and became part of Dentsu X,” a Dentsu spokesperson confirmed, adding: "360i still exists as a purely creative agency within the network."

Founded in 1988 as a pure-play independent search marketing agency, 360i evolved into a full-service digital marketing agency, and ultimately, into a full-service shop offering a complete portfolio of creative, planning and media operations by the time it was acquired by Dentsu in 2010.

In 2016, Dentsu folded free-standing media services agency Vizeum into 360i, although that brand continued to be used in certain international markets.

In 2021, Dentsu merged Vizeum’s operations into its iProspect unit and rebranded the entire entity as iProspect.

Dentsu’s U.S. website currently lists seven agency brands: iProspect, Carat, DentsuMB, Dentsu X, Isobar, Merkle and 360i, the last of which still is described as a “fully integrated creative and media agency,” but the Dentsu spokesperson said all of 360i’s U.S. media services are run through Dentsu X, Carat and/or iProspect.