BlueGlass acquires Quaturo to expand into UK market

Quaturo will become BlueGlass UK, with an office in London

Digital marketing company BlueGlass Interactive has acquired marketing firm Quaturo, the company announced Thursday. Quaturo will become BlueGlass UK, with its principal office in London. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

BlueGlass is both a thought-leader in online marketing, and a cutting-edge service provider offering all forms of online marketing services, including Paid, Organic, Social and Content Marketing. The company’s main focus is on search marketing campaigns.

Basically, the company helps brands market themselves online. For example, getting more exposure on social networks, like Facebook, through ad campaigns.

In an interview with VatorNews, Chris Winfield, Co-Founder & CMO of BlueGlass, said the addition of BlueGlass UK is the first step in the company’s European expansion, which will eventually include other markets, which he would not name. The company will now have offices in London, New York, Florida, California, South America, and Australia.

The reason that the company decided to start in the UK, Winfield said, is that it was a large market that was being underserved. It has a lot of networks to support, and is behind in how it is looking at digital marketing.

According to a study by Forrester last year, the interactive marketing industry is growing radiply in the U.S. By 2016 the U.S. interactive marketing spending is expected to reach $77 billion and will represent 35% of all advertising.

BlueGlass also points to an October 2012 Econsultancy study, which revealed that only 38% of companies in the UK have a content markering strategy, and that 66% don’t have any money allocated toward it at all.

For these reasons, the UK was always on BlueGlass’ roadmap, but the company was just looking for the right fit to break into the market. They found in in Quaturo, and its founder, Kevin Gibbons, who was a friend of the BlueGlass team for a few years.

Founded in June 2012 and based in London, Quaturo delivers content marketing and SEO services to a range of clients in the UK, most notably Vistaprint, Wonga, UCAS, Audley Travel and Premier Farnell.

Winfield says that the acquisition of Quaturo gives BlueGlass an already established presence into the UK market, which it can leverage.

Quaturo can also help with possible cultural differences that may arise, and that BlueGlass would have trouble understanding without having a foothold in the country.

What makes BlueGlass different than other similar companies is how it approaches its marketing campaigns, Winfield says. There is a large disparity between the big 5 holding companies (WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Interpublic and Hava), who own most of the largest digital marketing firms, and the other 99.9% of the smaller companies, like BlueGlass, which can use their smaller size to be more innovative and nimble.

“We’re a fundamentally different kind of digital marketing agency, created to fill a void in a crowded marketplace. Larger agencies are often slow moving and lack the ability to quickly shift gears. Small agencies often have trouble properly servicing large accounts or maintaining consistency and reliability,” Winfield said. “We combine the best of both types of agencies: we’re nimble and innovative, while offering the scalability and reliability necessary to take take on even the most challenging projects.”

Tampa, Florida-based BlueGlass was founded two years ago, in July 2010, as the merger of four profitable boutique agencies with an existing client base: 10e20, Search and Social, Brent Csutoras and Second Step Search. For this reason, the company has been profitable from the beginning, and has not needed to take any outside money. BlueGlass says it has seen revenues grow 65% year over year.

This is BlueGlass’ third acquisition. It previously purchased search marketing company 3 Dog Media in October 2010, and in January 2012 it bought Voltier Digital, a digital agency specializing in content marketing, infographic creation and data visualization.

Winfield said that BlueGlass acquired Voltier for its expertise on the marketing side.

BlueGlass’ clients include both larger and mid-market companies, including Masco,eBay, Thomson Reuters, Conde Nast Digital, Ipswitch, COLOURlovers, and Edmunds.com.

According to Winfield its latest expansion will help it to push both the mid-sized business, as well as help the big multinational companies with local market advertising.

Winfield has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, The Boston Globe, and Entrepreneur Magazine.