LONDON (Brand Republic) – Advertising agency J Walter Thompson, part of the WPP Group, is set to buy San Francisco-based digital branding specialist Tonic 360.
The deal, which is expected to be announced today, comes after the two companies joined up to win the $100m Sun Microsystems account in September of this year.
It is understood that the San Francisco-based Tonic 360 will operate as a standalone unit of the Thompson North America division and Tonic 360’s partners, Kevin Burke and Fred Schwartz, will remain at the helm of the company.
As well as Sun, the company’s clients include: AvantGo, which provides wireless services to mobile devices; the GO Network internet portal; streaming media specialist iBeam; and Macy’s department store. Its estimate billings are $150m, and it has 85 employees.