The company runs successful, international marketing campaigns for blue-chip brands and strives for continuous growth in advertising and marketing services. This acquisition follows the decision of Buongiorno to put in place a new central structure with the aim of consolidating and enhancing its competitiveness in the Digital Marketing Services. The acquisition was carried out by the new sub-holding Buongiorno Marketing Services Netherland BV, in which all Marketing Services activities of the Group converged.
The acquisition of HotSMS BV will be completed in cash for Euro 4.3 million, plus a non-material earn-out conditional upon the achievement of its 2007 Ebitda. HotSMS is managed by a strong and motivated team that will remain with the company after the acquisition.
Since it was established in 2000, HotSMS has developed a unique set of complementary activities for its clients, including: Mobile Advertising through SMS, MMS and WAP services based on its more than one million registered users database, increasing daily under direct permission; Mobile Marketing, working for marketing and media agencies to develop creative mobile marketing concepts and solutions such as mobile commercials, sponsored mobile gaming, SMS coupons, member-get-member promotions, as well as the development of mobile entertainment platforms to link off and online activities of the advertiser.
HotSMS has led over 1,000 campaigns since its inception for major clients such as: Coca-Cola, Heineken, KPN, L’Oreal, McDonald’s, Red Bull, Universal Music, Vodafone, and Warner Brothers. HotSMS does business with all media buying agencies in the Netherlands (Carat, OMD, and ZenithOptimedia…) and has ongoing relations with the top 10 advertising agencies (DDB, Ogilvy, and TBWA…).
“A wide-ranging mobile spectrum is now available and mobile technology is developing at a rapid pace. All of the features and applications available within the context of marketing alternatives will lead to a mobile lifestyle which will see applications and uses converge within the mobile device. However, what is technologically feasible today cannot yet be deployed effectively in marketing terms. HotSMS’s aim is to achieve marketing goals using the features that mobile devices currently offer. To do this, since our inception we have been seeking to balance what is technologically feasible with our target group’s level of mobile usage”, comments Ruben Troostwijk, Managing Director of HotSMS.
“The Digital Marketing Services market is constantly growing. The adoption of handsets, the penetration of fast broadband connections and reduced costs will contribute to further accelerating the growth of mobile marketing and the advent of the mobile lifestyle. This is the reason why, as a Group, we are now developing our own structure to consolidate our position in the Digital Marketing business. The acquisition of HotSMS perfectly fits with our strategy to strengthen our marketing services offering and our positioning as an international player”, states Carlo Frigato, Buongiorno Group CFO, in charge of the new Marketing Services initiative.
