BarkleyOKRP, one of the largest full-service independent marketing firms in the U.S., announced today the acquisition of Adlucent, from Advantage Solutions. Based in Austin, Texas, the performance media and marketing technology company works with brands such as Zappos, The Vitamin Shoppe, 1-800-Contacts, Rawlings, and Global Industrial, among others. This is the first acquisition the firm has made since Barkley and OKRP merged in March of this year, creating BarkleyOKRP, a “big indie” that sparks with consumers and drives outsized results for clients.
With deep industry expertise in e-commerce, retail, and lead generation, Adlucent creates custom paid media strategies for retail and service companies that deliver business results across search, display, social, and retail media networks. Adlucent excels in full-funnel media services, leveraging cutting-edge proprietary technology, which has propelled the company to the forefront of digital marketing solutions. As a testament to its expertise, Adlucent is a certified Google Marketing Platform, Google Premier Partner, Google Cloud Partner, Microsoft Advertising Elite Partner and Meta Business Partner. As Google’s largest shopping ads agency in the U.S., Adlucent’s unique positioning in the industry allows for a tremendous amount of power and scale while retaining the nimbleness of an independent agency.
“BarkleyOKRP fills the gap between holding companies and boutique shops, providing the best of both — broad capabilities led by breakthrough strategy and creative. We affectionately call it ‘big indie,’ which perfectly aligns with Adlucent’s competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said Jeff King, CEO of BarkleyOKRP. “This acquisition of Adlucent supports our strategic vision to scale integrated media capabilities, expand our technology offering, and grow our media and data team to more than 250 experts, driving consumer engagement and ROI for our clients.”
BarkleyOKRP will now have offices in Kansas City, Chicago, Denver, New York City, Pittsburgh and Austin, with more than 800 employees dedicated to creating bold work that resonates with the modern consumer. The firm also serves brands such as Burger King, Metro by T-Mobile, Planet Fitness, Motel 6, Corona Premier, AMC Theatres, Winnebago and more.
“Joining forces with BarkleyOKRP feels like the perfect fit for Adlucent —where our innovative thinkers and the power of technology combine with their creatively brilliant people to solve business problems. Their status as a Certified B Corporation as well as their industry-leading initiatives in DEI+B are in perfect harmony with our values. Together, we’ll continue delivering bold ideas and exceptional results for brands,” said Ashwani Dhar, CEO of Adlucent, who now becomes Chief Performance Officer at BarkleyOKRP.
Dhar is joining BarkleyOKRP’s executive team and will help lead Adlucent’s integration with BarkleyOKRP’s media practice, led by Chief Media Officer Reshma Karnik. He will also support his team’s continued focus on clients, talent and technology. Dhar will report to King, who is excited to welcome Adlucent’s 180 employees into its broader media practice; they will begin integrating their differentiated performance media and technology expertise to support clients connecting with modern consumers.
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