• by Tameka Kee , April 1, 2008

AzoogleAds is set to rebrand as Epic Advertising, a name that better reflects the agency's roster of performance advertising services, including email, display and search marketing.

The rebrand is also aimed at growing international business, as the firm recently launched strategic partnerships with performance marketing agencies serving the European, Latin American and Asia-Pacific markets. New York-based AzoogleAds will officially begin using the name and the www.epicadvertising.com Web site on Wednesday.

According to Don Mathis, president of AzoogleAds, the impetus to rebrand began last October when AzoogleAds acquired Bazaar Advertising, a New York-based search firm. The company gained a host of paid-search campaign management and lead-generation tools as part of the deal, along with a San Francisco office.

"Our companies worked tightly together, and they both had brand equity, so we wanted a seamless, consolidated brand that would reflect the full suite of services," Mathis told Online Media Daily. "We needed a single name with good qualities--and for the global part of it, frankly, Epic Advertising is much easier to say in German, Turkish or Chinese than Azoogle, Bazaar or any combination of the two."

Roughly a month ago, the firm announced inventory distribution and management partnerships with the London-based 77Agency and Israel-based AdsMarket, and AzoogleAds now operates in more than a dozen countries. Although AzoogleAds' Toronto office serves as the international hub, Mathis said the soon-to-be rebranded company would likely establish a brick-and-mortar presence in Europe by the end of 2008.

"It's important to serve an international market, as more and more advertisers have an interest in growing their global reach," Mathis said. He added that diversifying into foreign markets affords advertisers and their media partners more leverage, given the U.S. economy's current weakness. "But we haven't seen a slowdown in the performance sector here," Mathis said. "We do watch the news, and it's hard not to be impacted by the panic--particularly with everyone watching and blogging about downward click rate trends, but so far revenues are robust. We've had one of the best quarters we've ever had. The pipeline is full."

Mathis said that because AzoogleAds' service offering blends search and display--and is primarily based on the cost-per-action (CPA) model--the firm's future looks solid. "Performance advertising lends itself to direct response, and direct tends to not be as immediately affected as brand," Mathis said. "And we're much happier with CPA than if we were just doing CPM."

Despite the rebranding and the increased focus on international markets, AzoogleAds' CMO Mike Sprouse said clients shouldn't worry about a shift in service, product quality or attitude. "We're really not changing at all what we stand for," Sprouse said. "At the end of the day, we're still a performance marketing company." AzoogleAds clients include Blockbuster, Nielsen and Chase.