I heard the news about Global Strategies LLC being aquired by Oglivy from Bill Hunt, the CEO and main owner of Global Strategies LLC, and a good friend of mine (more of a mentor, actually) personally on Friday afternoon - but did not have a press release - so I did little more with this story except mention it to a few co-workers at IBM.

"….NEW YORK, March 2 /PRNewswire/ — Neo@Ogilvy, The Ogilvy Group's global digital and direct media company, is pleased to announce that it has acquired Global Strategies International (GSI), a leading Search Marketing Consultancy.

The move complements Neo's current global offering of both paid and organic services by delivering deeper expertise in "natural" search results and providing a strategic approach to using search (not just search engines) as a marketing channel."

Bill's company, Global Strategies, formed a little over 2 years ago, has had phenomenal success - attracting and holding some of the biggest clients and deals out there.  While a lot lower profile than other firms you might have heard of in the SEO/SEM space - Global Strategies LLC is probably more successful, dollar for dollar, person for person, than any of the others - I've always suspected that. As the PR states:

"….Launched in 2004, GSI provides a strategic approach to search marketing for major global clients including IBM. Founders include Bill Hunt, an industry leader in Search Marketing and author of "Search Engine Marketing Inc, - Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site," and his partners Jeremy Sanchez and Andy Weatherwax. Hunt was also recently appointed to the 2007 Board of Directors of SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. Hunt, Sanchez and Weatherwax will continue to lead GSI, which will maintain its own identity within Neo@Ogilvy."

Well…I'm glad Bill Hunt is continuing to lead GSI - GSI is really his idea manifested - he knows how to get things done…."change control" in large organizations both function and location.  Bill likes to build companies from the ground up ….then sell …he's done this a number of times - having aquired an "uncanny" business sense - I don't know anyone who understands how companies and corporations actually function better than he does.  

Another quality about Bill, who I've known for about 4 years, he's comfortable with himself and able assemble and lead teams that are truly effective - he's totally into results, but a very soft-spoken person. 

So…this is a good deal for Oglivy (as the PR States, there's a lot of overlap in clients, IBM being one of them) and it's a good deal for Global Strategies LLC - giving them even more clout than they had before - and more resources to draw upon, including a larger customer base as Oglivy is all over the place.  

But while Oglivy is a great Advertising Firm….they haven't been, let's face it….the greatest Advertising Firm (or Conglomerate 0s more like it) when it comes to Search or Analytics.  The greatest win for Oglivy is having one of the originators of Search, and one of its most accomplished players, on the team. 

Bill was quoted in the Press Release …

"….Search has become more than just about improving listings on a search engine," said Hunt. "The dynamics of search give consumers a way to manage their lives online and enable marketers to deliver specific needs at the most relevant moment: when consumers are looking for information and solutions. Search marketing is the most highly targeted form of online marketing and the best opportunity marketers have to engage "intent-driven" prospects who have self-identified their category, brand and/or product interest."

The success Bill and his company has achieved is well deserved.  And it should be interesting to see what happens now and Search Engine Marketing and Analytics (GSI has that expertise too) continue to heat up. 

I bet Bill and and his wife uncorked a couple of bottles of Champagne this weekend!  

I bet the other employees of GSI are also celebrating too.