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2ergo acquires ActiveMedia to expand into India

2ergo, an international provider of mobile marketing technology and products, has acquired ActiveMedia Technologies Group as part of its expansion into India.

ActiveMedia is a global provider of mobile ticketing and couponing products and claims to be India's top-ranking mobile marketing services company. In fact, AMT UK was the first company to commercially launch a mobile couponing product in Europe and has been the technology provider behind the longest-running, most successful British mobile marketing campaign, "Orange Wednesdays."

"In terms of the Indian marketplace, the best way to get to consumers in India is on a mobile," said Chris Brassington, group managing director at 2ergo, London. "There are only 2 million broadband users there, but 450 million have phones.

"Access to Indians is undoubtedly through mobile," he said. "The marketplace in India is six times the size of Britain and two and a half times larger than the North American marketplace."

ActiveMedia handled all the technology for Orange Wednesdays in Britain, a mobile couponing and ticketing offering which made Wednesday the most popular movie-going weekday in Britain.

2ergo and ActiveMedia hope that their collaborative effort can bring about more successful campaigns like Orange Wednesdays with a broader reach.

2ergo claims that the two main benefits of this acquisition is an operation in India, the world's fastest-growing mobile phone market, and the ability to integrate ActiveMedia's intellectual property and expertise into its range of product and service offerings as part of a global expansion effort.

"The economic climate has really leant itself well to couponing in general, and in particular mobile couponing," said Ariya Priyasantha, managing director at ActiveMedia, London.

"Mobile couponing fundamentally adds value to everyone in the value chain, for a win-win-win situation for the consumer, the retailer and the brand," he said.

ActiveMedia has offices in London, New Delhi and Mumbai serving India's major wireless carriers such as Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance and Tata.

Some of ActiveMedia's clients include Hyundai, Western Union, Blockbuster, Proctor & Gamble and British Airways.

While 2ergo's acquisition of ActiveMedia was recent, it follows a six-month partnership.

ActiveMedia claims that through this acquisition, it will be able to add its mobile couponing and ticketing products into the product offerings from 2ergo, completing a full specturm of mobile marketing products to offer to clients.

"For me the mobile phone is very much the here and now, but it's also the future," Mr. Priyasantha said. "In the developing world, it's seen as a much more powerful tool. Mobile could be the only access someone has to the Internet, or perhaps even a life-saving device.

"In the developing world, it could be access to everything and we sometimes take it for granted," he said.