Dive Brief:

• Global professional services firm Accenture is acquiring Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM), a Meredith Corporation-owned digital content-focused agency that offers integrated marketing, cross-channel strategy development and creative execution, a news release announced. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 
• The acquisition of MXM will strengthen Accenture Interactive's capabilities in creative services, data-led marketing, content strategy and digital marketing. Accenture Interactive will also expand its studio locations into key markets as a result of the deal, including Dallas, Des Moines, Iowa, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC.
• MXM brings a wealth of data and analytics skills, award-winning content creation and strong customer engagement in direct-to-consumer marketing. The company has worked with brands like Barilla, Bob Evans Restaurants, Kraft Heinz, Lowe's, Volkswagen and WebMD.

Dive Insight:

Accenture is significantly boosting its content marketing chops with the MXM deal while Meredith continues to streamline its operations to focus on several content areas. More specifically, MXM brings deep experience in custom content development and deployment, helping Accenture to broaden its content marketing capabilities at a time when content marketing continues grow, in part because traditional ads have lost of their power with consumers. The deals pair two like-minded businesses committed to leveraging data and content to reach consumers in ways. 

Over the past few years, Accenture has acquired dozens of agencies to expand its offerings. In one recent example, the company acquired Mackevision, a German 3-D enabled and immersive content producer to grow its visualization capabilities. Consultancies like Accenture and Deloitte have been gaining a foothold in the marketing industry and posing a threat to traditional agencies that don't have the depth of experience in digital. However, many in the industry dismiss the impact that consultancies are having on traditional ad agencies.

For MXM, joining forces with Accenture will give the digital agency a "home" where it can offer single-sourced, integrated solutions, giving both companies a competitive advantage, Georgine Anton, MXM president, said in a statement. MXM has been a major success for Meredith, but since acquiring Time Inc. in January, the publishing company has been restructuring and selling off parts of the business. Meredith has been exploring the sale of key magazine titles including Time, Fortune, Money and Sports Illustrated, Reuters reported. The company also announced significant layoffs and restructured its ad sales operations to allow sales teams to sell based on broad categories, like automotive or technology, across multiple brands, or pitch specific magazine brands, per Business Insider. Meredith also announced plans to incorporate Brooklyn creative shop The Foundry into its digital unit as the company’s main creative lab and branded and native content studio.