theAmplify joins forces with Collectively

YOU & MR JONES CREATES WORLD’S LEADING GLOBAL INFLUENCER BUSINESS

Brandtech Group acquires US influencer company, Collectively, to join forces with theAmplify

NEW YORK (August 6, 2020): You & Mr Jones, the global brandtech category pioneer and market leader, announces it has acquired Collectively, the leading US influencer marketing company. Collectively will join forces with theAmplify, the technology and data- driven influencer platform You & Mr Jones acquired in 2016.

Collectively was founded in 2013, making it one of the earliest influencer marketing companies. The company, which is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, was named one of the world’s Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company in 2018.

TheAmplify, which grew more than 50 percent organically in the first six months of this year, has evolved an extensive global footprint over the last three years from its headquarters in Los Angeles, with offices in New York, London and Paris, and operations across South America and APAC. Key clients of the combined companies include, Adobe, Coty, Danone, De Beers, Diageo, HP, Intuit, LinkedIn, NFL, Old Navy and Unilever.

The deal will bring together theAmplify’s global community building expertise and proprietary brand-safety and health-tracking technology for managing large scale influencer marketing programs with the full-service social and influencer strategy, campaign management, and industry-leading benchmarking and analytics for which Collectively is renowned. San Francisco-headquartered Collectively works with numerous leading technology brands and has built privileged relationships with the major tech platforms.

The combined company, which will operate under the Collectively brand, is positioned to be the global leader in the influencer marketing space. The new entity solves the three big issues marketers face with influencer marketing: the capacity to operate globally, demonstrable ROI, and fraud-free, robust and transparent metrics.

The combination of managed services and customized tech solutions will answer the increasing need from global brands for a partner able to execute safe and effective social and influencer initiatives locally, globally and at scale. Capabilities include data-driven strategy, influencer and celebrity campaigns, social content strategy and creation, full- funnel reporting, and influencer audience evaluation services.

Collectively cofounder and CEO Ryan Stern will lead the new company as chief executive, she is joined by theAmplify CEO Amy Luca, who has spent a large part of her career working in APAC and who will take the role of president and head of international, and Collectively cofounder and EVP Alexa Tonner will serve as chief operating officer.

The combined all-women executive team will also include Collectively’s Natalie Silverstein as SVP, head of innovation and theAmplify’s Rashmi Nigam as VP, head of product, Angelita Sierra as VP, North America, and Fiona Hughes as European managing director.

Industry disruptor You & Mr Jones, valued at $1.3 billion when it raised a further $200MM in late 2019, is the pioneer and leader of the brandtech category. The Group delivered +27 percent organic revenue growth in H1 2020, as Covid-19 further increased the need for brands to accelerate their digital transformation. Collectively joins its growing portfolio of tech and tech-enabled businesses that help brands do their marketing better, faster and cheaper using the latest technology.

You & Mr Jones founder, David Jones says: “We’ve had a great first six months of the year delivering very strong organic growth, underscoring the strength and relevance of our technology-driven business model and the extent to which brandtech is disrupting the traditional category – one of the key building blocks of our model has been people- powered marketing. Ryan and Alexa are extremely talented leaders and in Collectively they have built a very impressive company. Merging Collectively and theAmplify is an important step on our journey to the build the world’s number one genuinely global influencer capability for our clients. Alongside our investments in Traackr and Tribe Dynamics, it gives us unparalleled capabilities in the influencer space.”

Collectively cofounder and CEO, Ryan Stern, says: “Culture is changing at an unprecedented pace and people around the world are increasingly turning to influential people on social media to make sense of what’s happening. To stay relevant in 2020 and beyond, brands must recognize the power of people-powered marketing and advocacy. Our vision for Collectively was always to stay at the cutting edge of the industry and to expand the potential for influencer marketing globally as a means to empower our incredibly talented creator community. Joining forces with theAmplify will accelerate that trajectory and being part of the You & Mr Jones Group will give us major global reach and access to its platform of the most advanced brand and marketing technology companies.”

theAmplify CEO, Amy Luca, says: “As the influencer marketing category grows up there are still very few companies able to deliver campaigns globally for the world’s biggest brands. It’s becoming a real pain-point and one we believe we are uniquely placed to solve. It’s exciting to build on theAmplify’s really strong 2020 growth by joining forces with Collectively to create an unrivalled set of services for global brands.”