The once-Omnicom-owned digital marketing agency MangoMobile has merged with GMR Marketing's digital group.

The merger was put into action based on GMR's experience in engagement marketing. Both companies felt that new and focused attention should be given to the mobile marketing channel and the merger was bred out of that sentiment.

"Mango and GMR have been working together on several client projects over the course of the last three years, so it was a natural progression for the two agencies to come together," said Tony Besasie, chief marketing officer at GMR Marketing, New Berlin, WI.

"The skills and assets they each retain are quite complementary, which enables them to create better integrated campaigns blending on-line and off-line marketing," he said.

GMR claims to be a leader in consumer lifestyle marketing and believes that the mobile device is of vital importance when integrating brands into the social aspect of a consumer's life.

GMR's clients include Visa, Alltel, American Eagle Outfitters, Unilever's Axe, Best Buy, the NFL's Green Bay Packers, Mercedes-Benz, MillerCoors, Microsoft, Orbitz, Major League Baseball, PowerBar, Major League Soccer, New Balance, Chrysler, Lowe's, PepsiCo, Ing, McDonald's, Johnsonville Sausage, ESPN, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, AAA, ActiVision, A&E, Nokia, Kimberly-Clark and Cruzan Rum.

MangoMobile is a mobile marketing company with mobile platforms such as MangoLIVE, MangoENGINE and MangoCRM.

MangoMobile's clients include Toyota, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Unilever's Axe, MillerCoors, Bank of America, Motorola, Visa, Citibank, McDonald's, Blu-ray Disc, Warner Brothers, Nokia, A&E, Yahoo, Sears, Oscan Mayer, Nickelodeon, Nissan, Scion, Boru Vodka, Kimberly-Clark and the Vans Warped Tour.

MangoLIVE determines and manages mobile content provisioning and delivery while MangoENGINE provides the mobile customer metric management system.

MangoMobile also provides mobile Web/WAP sites, development aide, data collection, SMS and MMS.

"Mango's organizational structure and skill sets are well rounded for a mobile marketing firm," Mr. Besasie said. "The leaders of Mango are savvy marketers, having come from other areas in the marketing industry, so they know how to use mobile technology to serve brand objectives.

"Mango also has technical experts on staff enabling the agency to create programs in-house as well as stay abreast of the latest technologies and marketing applications through the developer community," he said. "Not many agencies industry have this kind of healthy balance."

GMR also claims that in this time of rapid expansion within the mobile marketing industry, the merger with MangoMobile gives the company a fresh type of expertise along with more tools to build marketing campaigns that deepen the engagement levels between brands and consumers.

GMR cites this rapid expansion on the more advanced integration of mobile extensions to existing marketing campaigns as well as the growth of 3G applications.

MangoMobile first entered the spotlight when it combined strategic thinking, creative execution and advanced technologies for the overall purpose of connecting consumers to brands worldwide.

"With the technological advancements we see in the future and the consumer lifestyle trends we track, mobile marketing will play a pivotal role in influencing consumer behavior," Mr. Besasie said. "In fact we think it will surpass many other forms marketing.

"The personalized nature of mobile, the portability of the devices, versatility of the technology, and value consumers place on staying connected to their world with instant access to information and content makes mobile marketing the uber-tool of popular culture and commerce," he said.