Executive chairman Chris Dobson will become CEO of The Exchange Lab following deal
WPP’s GroupM has purchased programmatic outfit The Exchange Lab for an undisclosed sum, it has been announced.
The deal will see GroupM add The Exchange Lab’s marketing technology, dubbed ‘Proteus’, to its Connect business where it will become a “core component” of its “multi-platform approach”.
Co-founded in 2007 by James Aitken and Tim Webster, The Exchange Lab has around 130 employees working in offices in London, New York, Chicago, Singapore, and Toronto, serving 700 clients this year, including Virgin Holidays, Volkswagen, A&W, Glasses Direct and Vue Entertainment.
Concluding the deal, Aitken will be stepping down from his role as CEO to pursue “outside investment interests”. Taking his place, executive chairman Chris Dobson (pictured) will take the role of CEO, working with Tim Webster who continues as chief strategy officer.
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Dobson will report directly to Rudiger Wanck, global CEO of Connect, GroupM Global with The Exchange Lab set to operate as an “agnostic business layer” within Connect, while also continuing to service clients independently.
“The Exchange Lab’s value proposition for an all-in-one solution across all digital media and devices and their commitment to building the absolute best technology to solve complexity for clients aligns precisely with the goals of Connect,” said Wanck.
“The impetus behind the creation of Connect is to provide agnostic real time media investment management across all technologies, data and inventory. Adding The Exchange Lab’s talent and proprietary technology accelerates our development and directly benefits the clients of GroupM’s agencies.
“Likewise, GroupM’s unparalleled scale and innovative media partnerships will terrifically enhance The Exchange Lab’s client services. I greatly admire The Exchange Lab’s accomplishments and look forward to working closely with Chris Dobson and his team.”
