• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, December 11, 2014

Publicis Groupe has acquired content marketing agency Relevant24, the holding company confirmed Thursday. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Based in Boston, R24 develops branded content for companies engaged in the fast-growing, real-time marketing space.  (The holding company cited a stat indicating that content marketing is now an annual $44 billion industry). The firm, with a staff of 23, also has an office in Venice CA.

The purchase follows Publicis Groupe’s move last month to acquire Sapient, part of a strategy to further strengthen its digital practice.

R24 is being aligned with the Starcom MediaVest Group, and will expand the group’s current content marketing platform Content@Scale.  But R24 will retain its current structure and name, operate as a stand=alone unit within SMG and be available as a resource to all agencies in the Publicis Groupe network.

The shop will also continue to be overseen by its founders, CEO Marc Gallucci and President Lane Murphy. Gallucci will join SMG’s Global Leadership Council.

“This move enables SMG to gain new advantages,” said SMG CEO Laura Desmond. “The landscape offers huge opportunity to capture data in real time and create a new paradigm in the strategic process, ensuring that messaging and distribution comes together in a way that is live, personalized, agile and tech-enabled.”