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AXcess News: Advertising Dollars Shift as Fast-Paced Agency Moves Into US Market


Published on 2009-12-15 07:08:05 - Market Wire
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RENO, NV--(Marketwire - December 15, 2009) - eMarketer's Geoff Ramsey sided with Forrester Research on Monday in predicting a 59% shift in US ad dollars from traditional to digital media in 2010 as marketers look for more efficient results. "True value is being unearthed by better measurement systems, such as more efficient targeting," said Ramsey. He might as well have been talking about Bark Group, Inc. (OTCBB: [ BKPG ]), a Denmark-based agency that's taking media intelligence and measurement to whole new level.

Copenhagen has been in the news daily over the slate of climate change talks, though in the advertising world, eyes are falling on an innovative, daring group of marketing and communications specialists behind [ Bark Group ], which looks to actually develop an algorithm to improve advertising results by teaming up with Mindmetic, which is developing methods for interpreting and decoding conscious and subconscious human emotions and reactions. Simply put, predicting the better response to advertising.

eMarketer's Ramsey says US marketers are [ facing a bloated market ] of over-valued media and buyers are demanding more out of their ad dollars, which online works quite well considering you can access so much information about someone viewing content compared to trying to guess who's reading a newspaper or watching a television commercial.

"For decades, the entire multibillion-dollar media industry has been puffed up beyond its true value because of waste," said eMarketer's Ramsey. "Gradually, though, media will shrink to match the true value it is delivering to marketers." Bark CEO Anders Hageskov agrees.

Having [ just formed a strategic collaboration ] with Glass box ApS, a company that specializes in analyzing effectiveness and profitability of digital marketing campaigns, Hageskov said, "We will gain invaluable insights into the user behaviors on our web campaigns, before they are even launched, enabling us to tweak our campaigns for maximum effectiveness."

But strategic alliances aren't all that's behind the dynamic Copenhagen-based Bark Group, which looks to become an acquisition machine within the advertising community, citing similarities to Omnicom Group, Inc. in pursuing acquisition strategies to enhance its range of services, according to Murphy Analytics, which [ began coverage ] on BKPG earlier this month.

Analyst Patrick J. Murphy said in his research notes that Bark Group has "adopted a model that has created tremendous success for advertising industry titans." Yet Bark Group has only one acquisition under way in Germany, though the Company has stated that it plans to acquire up to 7 companies in the coming year.

Profit for the nine months ended fell from $2.5 million to just shy of $600,000, casting doubt on Bark Group's ability to maintain its aggressive growth strategy, yet according to Hageskov, the Company has had a "[ sharp turn around ] in fourth quarter sales and looks to record a profit for the fiscal year." Hageskov also said Bark Group expects to see similar results in the US in 2010.

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