• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 21, 2007

Search-engine marketing firm iCrossing is on a roll. It has agreed to acquire Sharp Analytics. This move combines iCrossing's digital-marketing services with Sharp's proprietary marketing dashboard technology, SharpView. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition marks one of several recent iCrossing expansions since the addition of Don Scales, former CEO of Omnicom's Agency.com, as president. Late last year, the company acquired a San Francisco-based search agency, NewGate Internet, Inc. And last month, iCrossing said it was acquiring a U.K.-based search-engine marketing company named Spannerworks for around $18 million.

Sharp Analytics' founder, Chuck Sharp, will become managing director of the Sharp Analytics division. In this role, he will be responsible for the product development and marketing of SharpView and its corresponding analytics services. Sharp will report to Rod Lenniger, executive vice president of iCrossing.

"Sharp Analytics' business intelligence technology combined with our own analytics services sets a new standard for tracking, measuring and optimizing campaign ROI both on- and off-line," says Jeffrey Herzog, CEO and founder of iCrossing.

To add to its momentum, iCrossing hired three industry veterans with ties to Madison Avenue: Ian Baer, formerly chief strategic officer for TBWA's Tequila; Christopher Marquardt, formerly head of client services at Omnicom's Organic; and Lance Williams, from Agency.com.

Based in Salt Lake City, Sharp Analytics' clients include HP and P&G, and their ad agencies. Sharp Analytics will retain its brand and operate as a division of iCrossing, Inc., while iCrossing's existing analytics and performance-insight teams will merge with Sharp Analytics' service.

SharpView uses embedded optimization and modeling to identify insights hidden within data, integrates campaign results from disparate systems, and then analyzes the information against pre-defined campaign goals. Clients can access this information in real time through customized dashboards that monitor results and optimize marketing campaigns.

With the Spannerworks deal, iCrossing gained its first office outside the United States. The company already maintains offices in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, and Scottsdale, Ariz.