Digital agency Jellyfish is sticking with its plans to expand globally, COVID be damned. That agenda was, after all, why it was acquired by the French holding company Fimalac in February.
“We don’t want to necessarily exploit the fact that there’s a global pandemic,” said CEO Rob Pierre, “but we certainly think that there’s going to be opportunities that present themselves.”
Jellyfish, which began as a Google Marketing Platform reseller focused on programmatic in-housing, is in talks to acquire other companies in the name of global expansion. Jellyfish also has its eye on companies that would augment its capabilities around data and programmatic – both within and outside of Fimalac. (Rob wouldn’t say which ones.)
“There are potentially some … synergistic services within the family,” he said. “We feel there’s opportunities to collaborate and to possibly merge there.”
As the clock ticks on the third-party cookie, Jellyfish is helping clients build first-party data strategies and navigate their way around walled gardens, which Rob refers to as online “department stores” for big brands.
“They want you to literally put your money in at the top and you can tangibly show the return on investment right through to transaction on their platform,” he said. “I would recommend that you treat the store like the store, and you make sure that you optimize that experience as much as possible.”
Rob chats with AdExchanger from his home in Reigate, outside of London, where the COVID-19 trajectory is looking a bit more positive than in the United States.