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Image credit: Smartly.io

Helsinki-based Smartly.io, a social advertising SaaS platform for creative and performance marketers, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired London’s Ad-Lib.io, the next-generation creative optimisation platform. The deal was reportedly worth “more than $100M” (approx €88.55M).

The acquisition is expected to help Smartly.io’s cross-channel reach from social to also include dynamic creative optimisation across programmatic, CTV, and the entire Google ecosystem. The industry is witnessing a growing demand for solutions that bring creative and media closer together across all channels.

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From ‘big idea’ to creative optimisation in a single platform

Founded in 2017 by Oli Marlow-Thomas, Ad-Lib is a digital creative tech and service business. The company connects creative and media workflows using intelligent automation, making it easy and fast to produce and optimise relevant ad creative across all digital channels. 

Ad-Lib.io claims that according to its customers, which include 10 of the top 30 global brands, the ads are 60 per cent more cost-efficient to produce.

Oli Marlow-Thomas says, “Smartly.io is the preeminent leader in delivering creative and media effectiveness for social. With brand marketers and agencies increasingly uniting their social and programmatic teams into integrated digital creative and media investment teams, this is a natural next step for both companies (Smartly.io and Ad-Lib.io).”

Ad-Lib’s CEO Adit Abhyankar adds, “Teams are currently using multiple technologies or software partners, but going forward they won’t have to. The Smartly.io and Ad-Lib.io solution will provide the connective tissue to maximise creative effectiveness, media buying, and creative intelligence.”

Aim of the acquisition

With the acquisition, Smartly.io’s SaaS solution for social advertising will now be augmented by Ad-Lib.io’s enterprise suite of creative tools for YouTube, DV360, and Google Ads campaigns.

Speaking on the development, Kristo Ovaska, CEO and co-founder of Smartly.io, says, “The past two years have proven that creative technology has become the most important lever for driving digital advertising performance.”

“Ad-Lib.io is a clear leader in the creative space by innovating on the mission-critical dimensions of workflow, automation, brand governance, personalisation and insight. Their knowledge of the Google stack is unmatched in the industry and combining that with Smartly.io’s deep understanding of Facebook and the social stack across creative, media, and data allows us to now serve customers across all major digital channels,” adds Ovaska.

Ad-Lib.io is a Google Certified Creative partner and currently works with 10 of the top 30 global advertisers. Whereas, Smartly.io partners with all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok and works with more than 700 major advertisers globally.

In the near future, both teams will continue building a robust stack of creative digital optimisation tools to help advertisers gain relevance and reach in the constantly changing digital advertising landscape.

Powering effective Ads

Consumer behaviour is constantly evolving and for brands to succeed, they need to meet customers where they are. Founded in 2013 by Kristo Ovaska and Tuomo Riekki, Smartly.io is an adtech company that combines media buying and creative automation to automate manual work and maximise ROAS.

The company says it combines creative technology, ad-buying automation, and data with customer service to help more than 700+ brands scale their results — on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok. “We are a fast-growing community of more than 650 Smartlies with 17 offices around the world, managing over $3B in annual ad spend and growing rapidly and profitably,” says the company.