New York Times Co (NYSE:NYT) has announced its acquisition of a marketing agency known as Fake Love whose forte is virtual reality and augmented reality.
The company plans to use the acquisition to push into additional ad agency services that will allow it to boost its revenue. The two firms have previously worked together to create a VR ad that would market a film called Carolfor the Weinstein company. The New York Times believe that acquiring an already existing ad agency service is better than creating an entirely new agency. The company stated that the acquisition of Fake Love will allow it to boost its capability in augmented reality and virtual reality.
Fake love has about 50 employees with only ten of them working full-time. Once the acquisition is complete, it will assist NYT in filing special requests that it receives regularly. Fake Love will, however, continue to operate from its headquarters in Brooklyn. It will also retain its branding and still carry out its operations separately from The New York Times. Nevertheless, it will still carry out the needs of the NYT.
Fake Love will be incorporated into the T Brand Studio division of the New York Times. The studio division specializes in the creation of branded content for firms and its portfolio extends to major firms such as General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) among others. The T Brand studio is based in London and New York and it has more than 110 employees. It also intends to expand its operations to Asia before the end of the year.
NYT has been adopting the same strategy that most other publishers have been taking up by investing heavily in creative services and branded content. This strategy will help the firm to counter the decline in the print and digital display advertising. The two firms did not reveal the value of the acquisition though it marks the second time in six months that NYT has acquired a marketing agency.
