Lagardère Active Radio International (LARI) continues to own the other 50% of the company.

Acceleration Media is one of South Africa’s leading strategic digital media consultancies and provides a range of digital marketing solutions and services to many of the country’s top brands.

25AM is positioning itself to take advantage of the rapid growth in the digital marketing and customer engagement market in South Africa and the rest of the continent. The new name looks to the future of around-the-clock business while nodding to Acceleration's legacy as a digital pioneer. The new name came into effect on Tuesday, 4 March.

“The change in ownership of the business means that now is the perfect time for us to rebrand Acceleration Media and take on a new name that reflects our business today and our vision for the future,” says Andre Steenekamp, CEO of 25AM. “Building on the strong foundation of our existing capabilities, we will help our clients to use campaign data and related insights to engage with their customers more efficiently and cost-effectively.”

The digital media and marketing industry has changed profoundly since Acceleration Media was established more than a dozen years ago, he adds. There has been a shift away from treating digital as a static media channel, much like any other medium, towards embracing it as a platform for forging and enhancing customer relationships.

As a result, there is more emphasis on data and web analytics solutions as a means of understanding customers’ behaviour so that brands can engage with them in more relevant and personalised ways. In addition, the whole world of social media has emerged and grown up in this time.

“Today, social media strategy and online reputation management (ORM) are a vital pillar of any brand’s online engagement with its customers,” says Steenekamp. “Acceleration Media was an early entrant into this market, which is set for explosive growth over the next few years as marketers accept social media as a mainstream channel.”

Adds Steenekamp: “More than ever, marketing is about leveraging the right solutions and technologies to monitor and improve customer relationships in near-real time with a view to improving business performance. With our established skills and tools in social, paid search, media buying, analytics and SEO, we can give our clients a single view of their customer data across multiple digital channels so that they can better acquire, engage and retain customers – all through a single reporting platform.”

25AM will build on the legacy of Acceleration Media’s client base, historical data, experience and partnerships with best of breed technology providers such as DoubleClick, Salesforce.com and Argyle Social. 25AM will continue to work independently from Amorphous and Times Media, though it will leverage group assets when appropriate to provide a complete solution to a client.

For more information, visit www.25am.net.