CoActive Marketing Group, Inc. has changed its name to ‘mktg,’ playing off a portion of the name of the agency, mktgpartners, that it recently purchased.

The new name reflects the repositioning of the agency as a strategic partner that measures and analyzes its programs to provide a provable return on investment, the company said.

The quotation marks are meant to represent, “conversation and communication, as well as the idea of a message being captured and shared,” the firm said.

“This new positioning better reflects our mission to drive market share and deliver measurable results and profitability for our clients,” said Charlie Tarzian, chief executive officer, ‘mktg,’ in a statement. “The new name and logo are intended to communicate the endless possibilities of what marketing can deliver when driven by creating a shared experience that connects brands and builds trust among consumers.”

On July 2, CoActive completed its acquisition of privately held mktgpartners. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

CoActive described the purchase as part of its ongoing effort to diversify its client base and transform from an agency built on short-term live events to one that can take over end-to-end marketing accounts.

Charlie Horsey, the former CEO of mktgpartners, has become the new firm’s division president for entertainment, sports and events.

Both parties do business as full-service integrated marketing communications agencies. Mktgpartners focuses on entertainment and sports marketing, experiential campaigns and promotion. BIC, CBS, Jamba Juice, Nike VSP and YouTube are among its clients. The New York-based company posted $14.1 million in gross sales and $4.3 million in operating revenue in 2007.

Also headquartered in New York, with offices in Chicago, Cincinnati and San Francisco, CoActive creates integrated campaigns for a client roster that includes Coty, Diageo, Nintendo, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and SAP. The company reported gross sales of $85.5 million for fiscal 2008 and operating revenue of $34.9 million.

For more stories on agencies

Related Articles:

Coactive Buys Mktgpartners
http://promomagazine.com/agencies/news/coactive_buys_mktgpartners_0702/index.html