October 20th, 2016- AMP Agency was recently named a top digital marketing agency and full-service digital agency in New York City from Clutch. What makes this recognition more significant than your average ratings site is the unique methodology that Clutch uses to evaluate each company they feature. A variety of criteria are considered, such as previous work, market presence, service lines, and most importantly, client satisfaction. Only companies that perform well in all of the categories can be included on Clutch’s “Leaders Matrix,” and we are honored to appear on two! Take a look at our profile on Clutch to see all of our full-length reviews.

Ongoing Education and Multi-Level Certification Enhances Self-Service Clients' Expertise and Addresses Industry Skills Gap BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Oct 13, 2016) - DataXu, a leading provider of programmatic marketing and analytics software, today announced the rollout of its new DataXu professional certification, designed to provide defined educational paths and resources to DataXu platform users at brands and agencies. With programmatic ad spending in the United States projected to reach 82% of all digital display spending by 2018, the market is hungry for education on technology that enables measurable return on marketing investment. As agencies and brands consolidate marketing efforts with select partners instead of a large set of siloed specialty vendors, on-demand training has become crucial to success for programmatic marketers. The rollout of DataXu's professional certification seeks to address this need and offer a superior practical educational experience for the users of DataXu's AI-powered marketing platform. DataXu platform users can earn accreditation as a Certified DataXu Platform User, Specialist or Expert depending on their level of expertise. The certifications build upon continuing education opportunities; annually, certified users can maintain their status by ensuring all corresponding learning paths are complete as courses are updated. Throughout the learning paths, users' understanding of the DataXu platform and associated concepts that surround it will be assessed. "We consider our platform users to be some of our most innovative clients. They look to the DataXu platform as their toolkit for leveraging new insights and tactics to improve their campaigns and deliver maximum ROI on every marketing investment," said Kim Remley, Senior Director of Learning and Talent Development, DataXu. "With this new certification, we're filling an industry skills gap and empowering our clients to better meet and surpass business goals with their media plans." In order to achieve DataXu platform certification, users must: Meet prerequisite guidelines for platform usage. Participate in web-based curriculum on the DataXu platform and programmatic marketing topics. Successfully complete on-demand assessments designed to measure user proficiency. Boston-based integrated marketing agency AMP Agency, a part of Advantage Media Solutions, is an early partner in DataXu's certification. "The programmatic market is moving forward at lightning speed, and as our clients become more and more entrenched in it, it's crucial to keep our skills up to date and to ensure we have exceptionally trained media buyers," said Chris Boucher, SVP Advertising Technology at Advantage Media Solutions, AMP Agency's parent company. "With DataXu's professional certification, we have created a team of experts able to utilize all aspects of the DataXu platform, a clear benefit to both our employees and our clients." "Ongoing learning is a crucial component of both our employee and corporate value proposition here at DataXu," said Tiffany Mosher, Senior Vice President of People Strategy, DataXu. "Now, with the launch of DataXu's professional certification, we're thrilled to offer additional on-demand learning opportunities to our customer base." DataXu certification is available to DataXu self-service clients globally. To get started, contact your DataXu Account Representative. __________________________________________ About AMP Agency AMP Agency is a full service marketing agency with offices in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles At AMP, we believe in better ideas created a different way. It’s in our heritage. Through the years, we’ve morphed from a non-traditional marketing agency into a full-service shop. Today, we’re a team of 200+ intellectually curious individuals who are eager to solve your business challenges. About DataXu DataXu's mission is to make marketing better using data science. The world's top brands and agencies use DataXu to better understand and engage customers across all devices and media formats. Our solution provides marketers with unparalleled Media Activation, Marketing Analytics and Data Management capabilities. With sixteen offices in eleven countries, DataXu's full-stack solution is powering the digital transformation of the world's most valuable brands. Source- DataXu

This updated research identifies AMP Agency as one of the eleven leading inbound marketing agencies that have a proven ability to meet their clients’ expectations. WASHINGTON, August 29th, 2016 — Last week, Clutch published a report on the leading inbound marketing agencies. The research leverages Clutch’s proprietary methodology which maps each agency based on their ability to deliver and their inbound marketing focus. “Each agency has demonstrated a strong ability to provide results for their clients through comprehensive inbound marketing campaigns,” stated Jeff Westling, Analyst at Clutch. “The ability of a company to not only bring in a high volume of prospective clients but also a high percentage that convert into customers is crucial to a company’s continued success.” Analysts at Clutch took into account various qualitative and quantitative factors when evaluating these agencies. Some of those factors include client reviews, past experience, industry recognition, market presence, and focus on various types of inbound marketing services. Some of these services include content creation for blogs and social media, email marketing campaigns to grow lead possibilities, PPC, and general SEO work to improve a website’s presence online. Clutch's effort to identify leading inbound marketing agencies is ongoing, and the firm encourages companies to apply to participate in future research updates. Upcoming publications will highlight Web Designers and App Developers in Washington DC and SEO Consultants. The full research and reviews can be found at: https://clutch.co/agencies/inbound-marketing https://clutch.co/agencies/inbound-marketing/leaders-matrix About Clutch A B2B research firm in the heart of Washington, DC, Clutch connects you with the agencies and software solutions that can help you enhance your business and meet your goals. Our methodology maps agencies and software solutions based on consumer reviews, the type of services offered, and quality of work.

BOSTON, MA – July 22nd, 2016— AMP Agency, a full service integrated marketing agency specializing in digital and experiential activations, announced its final award acceptance for the Q1 2016 award show season. AMP Agency is honored to have been nominated for 1 MITX award for their work with the LifeStyles/ SKYN brand, and to have won 1 MITX award for their work with L’Oreal’s Garnier brand, as well as 2 Reggie awards, 1 EX award and 1 PRO award. In partnership with Lifestyles/ SKYN, AMP developed a 360 degree campaign designed specifically for Millennial men through a mix of digital, events, and partnerships. To get into the hearts and minds of the Millennial audience, AMP developed a custom, nationally distributed survey that served as the backbone for the campaign, driving everything from the places the brand showed up in, to the content served, to the time of day the audience saw the message, to the ambassadors who embraced the brand. Through gaining a deep understanding of the audience, SKYN and AMP were able to create a conversation with Millennials in a way that set the brand apart from the competition. Awards won for this work included: MITX Awards- Finalist- Best Marketing to Millennials Campaign “On behalf of the entire team at Ansell Healthcare, we are honored to be recognized by MITX for our work connecting with Millennials across both the SKYN and LifeStyles brands,” said Matt Jacobs, GM, AMP Agency. “We’re committed to engaging young people in conversations around sex and sexual wellness – and sometimes that just happens to take the form of a safe sexting emoji keyboard.” Together, Garnier and AMP executed a campaign with traditional experiential marketing at its core, targeting 18-24 year old Millennials. The campaign, #GarnierMusic, made a giant splash at the nation’s hottest music festivals, and focused on providing millennials with one of the things they want most during festival season: style. To do this, AMP created the Garnier Salon, a custom-built hair washing and styling activation that had influencer integrations and on-site sampling at five of the nation’s top music festivals. The #GarnierMusic program was named the most popular destination at all festivals it visited, and a “not to miss” by numerous notable blogs and publications, generating over 121M impression over the course of the summer. Awards won for the #GarnierMusic campaign included: Reggie Silver Award – Best Age-Specific Campaign Reggie Silver Award – Best Experiential Marketing Campaign (Budget Over $1M EX Gold Award – Best Sampling Campaign MITX Award – Winner, Best Marketing to Millennials Campaign PRO Award – Winner, Best Sampling Campaign “These announcements are especially humbling, as these awards are extremely competitive and this year’s competition was fierce,” says AMP’s CEO, Gary Colen. To learn more about the work, click here. ABOUT AMP AGENCY AMP Agency is a full service marketing agency with offices in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. At AMP, we believe in better ideas created a different way. It’s in our heritage. Through the years, we’ve morphed from a non-traditional marketing agency into a full-service shop. Today, we’re a 200+ team of intellectually curious individuals who are eager to solve your business challenges. We're proud to work with amazing clients including industry leaders like Maybelline New York, Hasbro and Ansell Healthcare. To learn more, visit https://www.ampagency.com ABOUT GARNIER For over 100 years, Garnier has created innovative, performance-driven products covering all types of beauty needs. Present in more than 65 countries, the brand draws its strength from its young and resolutely optimistic spirit. Garnier’s expertise has expanded to cover several areas in the beauty field with iconic and world renowned products in haircare, styling, hair coloration, skincare and more. At Garnier, we embrace individuality by creating must-have products that harness the power of nature and technology to help everyone look good and feel better every day. ABOUT LIFESTYLES LifeStyles® brand condoms have been a trusted product line on the market for over 30 years. LifeStyles was the first condom brand to target women, the first to advertise on MTV, and the first condom manufacturer with a website on the Internet. While the brand has evolved and changed over time, LifeStyles has always stood for safety and reliability, and we are committed to making safe sex fun by offering new and unique products to meet every need and desire. ABOUT THE REGGIE AWARDS Since 1983, the REGGIE Awards have been the premier industry awards program recognizing the best marketing campaigns activated by brands and agencies. The name – REGGIE – was originally chosen because it symbolizes results by "making the cash register ring” with consumers. The Super REGGIE recognizes the highest level of achievement and is awarded to the "best-in-class” from the Gold category winners. It is the most honored award in the Brand Activation industry, recognized as the crème de la crème in the marketing world. ABOUT THE EX AWARDS The EX Awards is the world’s largest recognition program for experiential marketing with 23 categories spanning every type of brand experience. ABOUT THE MITX AWARDS The MITX Awards show is the largest and most prestigious annual awards competition in the country for technology and digital innovation. The categories in this year’s program showcase the disruptive marketing, creative, and emerging technologies happening in New England. ABOUT THE PRO AWARDS Now, in its 26th year, The PRO Awards is the gold standard for excellence in promotional marketing. Recognizing outstanding promotion marketing campaigns—from events/experiential and multicultural, to entertainment and local.

TLDR: AMP Agency conducted a survey, ‘How the Class of 2016 Will Change the World of Marketing’ to try to understand the implications of this generation’s behavior on brands and consumers in the marketing realm. To get this information, we went straight to the source and surveyed 153 college freshmen from the Boston area on their media consumption, marketing attributes, and affinities. Coming out of our survey four years ago we learned: There were over 22MM + College Students in the U.S. On average, they own 6.4 tech devices They spend 14.4 total hours with tech devices daily They have over $405 billion in total spending power They talk to parents 27.7 times per week on average 74% of them expect to graduate debt free We also predicted that this class of 2016 would change the future of technology and marketing as we know it in the following ways: The College Bubble Has Burst New, more cost efficient ways of experience content It’s All About Status Share and Comment - the new Show and Tell Byte Sized Consumers Ballin' on a Budget Media on Demand "It's not online and offline. Its online or asleep" Now that this Class is graduating, we've taken the time to reflect on our predictions and analyze if they did in fact come true, while providing another outlook on our assumption of the landscape for 2020, which we believe might look something like this: Data is King Thanks to advancements in technology and a continually decreasing cost of entry, big data will be easily enabled and managed Increased Demand for Video Content Video content will continue to dominate screen time Mobile eCommerce will Drastically Increase Be prepared for mobile shopping to skyrocket by 2020 So is your company ready for 2020? We are here to help. We are a team of 200+ talented characters who love creating smart ideas for today, tomorrow and beyond. Click here to contact us to learn more.

“We are here to discuss the Shopper Marketing Challenge,” stated AMP Agency’s SVP of Advertising Technology, Chris Boucher. And discuss the Shopper Marketing Challenge, he did. On May 10th, 2016, AMP Agency’s Shopper Digital Group, a member the Advantage Marketing Partners family focused on innovation in digital to drive shopper conversions and Ubimo, a platform designed to solve a brands’ ‘mobile advertising strategy’ hosted a break out session at the 2016 Mobile Marketing Leadership Forum. The breakout session, “How Mobile and Local Data are Transforming Shopper Marketing,” focused on the disruptive impact of mobile on shopper marketing strategies. From real time campaign optimization for local audiences or outlet inventory, to actually measuring and attributing in-store sales data, foot traffic and national promotions, mobile has revolutionized digital shopper marketing. Chris leaded with the statement that “Cookie based static audiences segments are irrelevant for Shopping Marketers.” He went on to explain that by focusing less on cookies, and more on mobile first data, Shopper Marketers can capture personal moments and a deeper awareness of location and in-between moments (browsing without intent). Unlike cookies, mobile first data gives a holistic understanding of the shopper and their behaviors which benefits both the brand and retailer. Gilad Amitai, COO and Co-Founder of Ubimo, supported the conversation by addressing the importance of reaching the right person (based on demographic data, historical location data, DMA affinity data and audience graph) at the perfect moment (the right time and place). The core of the conversation aimed to address how brands can promote products in thousands of national outlets, while keeping messaging personal, local and relevant to individual consumers. The solution provided? Brands must break through the ‘battleground’, defined as the context around the store including real-world context, area culture, demographics and store affinity, and to reach the perfect person at the perfect moment. But how can brands effectively do this? AMP partners with Ubimo and their “Project X” product to allow shopper marketing companies to understand sales data for specific products in specific stores measured against Ubimo Metrics. This near real-time sales data is then matched to mobile media spends supporting in-store efforts, which allows marketers to understand the result in individual product sales lift based on supporting marketing. When this data is coupled with Ubimo’s proprietary location and user data, companies can extract powerful insights about the effectiveness of their advertising budget, while also building deeper audience segments for specific “battlegrounds” around core store locations. This dynamic partnership may be just the solution you are looking for, shopper marketers. It’s a data driven world out there and AMP and Ubimo are on a mission to help you make sense of it. If you are interested in learning more about how to leverage these unique solutions, contact us today.

For the past six semesters, Boston University students have had a unique opportunity, the chance to enroll in the fully accredited, AMP Agency Insights Lab Incubator Course. The course is a cross-departmental think tank, dedicated to uncovering, understanding and leveraging the best ways to connect brands with consumers via the latest technology. For the past two semesters, I’ve had the pleasure of helping mold the minds of these talented BU students. When asked to participate, a colleague shared that I would learn a ton from students and quoted the syllabus, “This course marries the digital talent of aspiring marketers with the marketing prowess of seasoned brand marketers and agency executives. And, it works because of the reciprocal learning relationship between students and the participating mentors.” I was skeptical about the truth behind this statement. Could I actually learn from students? Isn’t it conventional wisdom that teacher helps student learn not vice versa. My skepticism waned immediately after the first day. Since that day, I have learned 3 important lessons. 1. Lesson #1: Diverse perspective lead to great ideas. We view participants in the Insights Lab Incubator as the next generation of marketing leaders. Because at AMP we understand that the future of marketing is in the hands of these aspiring marketers. As such, we encourage healthy dialogue and debate around marketing and business challenges – starting each class with a discussion around “this week in marketing.” We expect students to keep up-to-date on the latest and greatest within the marketing world, and be prepared to vocalize their perspective. To encourage discussion outside the classroom, we have a Tumblr-esque sites where students can post interesting articles and comment with their opinions. Key Lesson: For me, the lesson here resides in always encouraging healthy debate among all departments, interests, skillsets and levels because diverse perspective lead to best solutions. 2. Lesson #2: Environment dictates behavior. We treat class like a client relationship. Therefore, we hold course participants to the same expectations as agency employees. By treating class like a client assignment, we give these aspiring marketing leaders the chance to gain real agency-world experience. Because, how can we solve business problems different if we are all reading the same book? Key Lesson: Similar to how this class defies conventional approaches to get to the desired outcome, marketers and agency professionals should consider the end goal and the best way to achieve it instead of relying on the tried and true processes and procedures. 3. Lesson #3: It’s all about relationships. To us, the Insights Lab Incubator Course is a stellar recruitment platform. Throughout the 13 week course, students are establishing relationships with agency professionals, learning more about a day-in-the-life of various departments to help identify potential career paths. Our HR team is readily available to answer questions and to schedule mock or informational interviews. Students also have the opportunity to build relationships with brand marketers. We partner with an AMP client to issue a real-world marketing challenge to students. At the end of the semester, students present their integrated marketing proposal to the client contact. Clients have been known to hire students post-presentation. Key Lesson: Every interaction can lead to a new opportunity. While those are the 3 lessons I learned as an adjunct professor, hear from a former student about their key takeaways from the course

Sara Whiteleather to lead AMP’s Integrated Media team BOSTON, MA – March 14th, 2016— AMP Agency, an integrated marketing agency, announced the hire of a new VP of Media, Sara Whiteleather, to assist in leading the growing integrated media team. As VP of Media, Sara will work in collaboration with the SVP of Media, to lead the agency’s integrated media services, including all online and offline planning and buying capabilities. Sara will play an integral role in driving media innovation by focusing on full funnel, cross channel media strategies around a wide array of activations. ”We (as consumers) experience an enormous amount of interruption from brands who don’t take the time to connect with us personally. Our job as marketers is to turn that interruption into an invitation that consumers want to RSVP to.” Sara is passionate about ad technology and emerging platforms which allows for a stronger relationship between brands and their customers. “Personalized experiences are the expectation” and she believes that brands need to meet that expectation in order to maintain relationships with their customers. ”The digital ecosystem is a complicated space and the industry as a whole is still doing a lot more talk than walk when it comes to how we actually leverage ad tech. “Big data” doesn’t mean anything if you don’t actually use it. At AMP, we’re investing in the right talent and the right technology and that combination is allowing us to bring extremely powerful, yet simple data solutions to our clients.” Sara is a digital media expert, specializing in programmatic and developing data driven solutions. Prior to joining AMP, Sara served as an Associate Media Director at DigitasLBi where she was a key contributor to strategic platform partnerships, and on-boarding of a data management platform for a Fortune 500 Financial Services Corporation. “With the great addition of Sara to our integrated media team, we are excited to continue to expand not only our media technologies, but our talent to best serve our clients’ needs in the evolving media space,” Gary Colen, CEO, AMP Agency. ABOUT AMP AGENCY AMP Agency is a full service marketing agency with offices in Boston, Los Angeles and New York. At AMP, we believe in better ideas created a different way. It’s in our heritage. Through the years, we’ve morphed from a non-traditional marketing agency into a full-service shop. Today, we’re a team of 200 + intellectually curious individuals who are eager to solve your business challenges. We're proud to work with amazing clients including industry leaders like Maybelline New York, Hasbro and Ansell Healthcare. To learn more, visit https://www.ampagency.com/

'It's all about your people,'? said AMP's very own, very wise, Rich Grogan at the MITX Data Summit. The MITX Data Summit was a full-day event 'designed to bring together top minds in the industry to share proven best practices for business success.' Rich, VP of Measurement & Analytics, was one of the industry leaders selected to sit on the 'Tips for Generating Data and Analytics in a Fast Paced Agency Setting'? panel. The panel presented a wealth of information, so for the sake of simplicity (and because of our inherent bias), we will be focusing on Grogan's key takeaways. Q: What's the most important thing in analytics? In his responses to panel mediator, Judah Phillips, Grogan focused on one major theme ' the importance of finding the right people and keeping them. There are thousands of tools that provide clients' with their data; however, there are only a select few who can interpret the data.'These storytellers are an agency's analytics team.'? Q: What makes a talented analyst? When looking for new talent an agency should value potential over education. Anyone can learn how to use the tools, but an agency needs to find candidates who are naturally inquisitive and hungry to problem solve. By realizing the potential in these candidates, an agency has the ability to provide clients with multiple solutions from key data insights. Q: What's the role of an analyst in an agency setting? An agency's team of social scientists, digital analysts, data scientists, and business intelligence professionals need to be key players in an agency's internal and external relationships. The analytics team is no longer a behind-the-scenes job and analyzing data should not be a backroom operation. Clients respond well to familiarity with their analyst. The relationship and trust that is developed can drastically influence future business together. Q: What's the most important piece of advice you would like to leave the audience with? 'Focus on your people.'? The entire panel agreed. And, the audience did too! It's clear the unanimous 'tip' for generating data and analytics in a fast paced agency setting is to ensure you have the best people for the job. The training will come later. The people need to be driven, curious and hungry for solutions. Grogan left the audience with on last piece of advice; 'At the AMP Agency, we're always hiring.'? It's true. Check out our openings at https://www.ampagency.com/about/careers/

Pop quiz: How much do North American brands spend yearly on sponsorships? If you guessed $20B, take the rest of the day off. According to IEG's 30th annual year-end sponsorship industry report, companies spent $20.6B in 2014 on sponsorships and that number is projected to increase to $21.4B in 2015. But the question is, why do brands spend that much? Here are five reasons why sponsorships are worth the billions: 1. Niche it Up!' Let's just say your soft drink company is losing market share of the male, cricket enthusiasts in India, what do should you do? Duh, become the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League, allowing you exclusive access to this niche consumer group. By partnering with a brand that shares the same target audience, you are able to increase reach in a potentially challenging demographic target. This will allow your brand to create a meaningful connection with a relevant audience. 2. Two Words'?¦Live Entertainment ' In this day and age, consumers have limited patience to watch their favorite TV shows with commercials, let alone read an entire top ten list (hence the reason for this top 5 list). Live sports, entertainment and events are one of the last frontiers to engage with a captive audience, therefore serving as an important platform for your brand to advertise on. 3. Riding the Coattails - Let's face it. Consumers might not always be thinking about your brand. Here is the chance for your brand to align itself with an entity that might be cool or patriotic or stylish or young. There are a plethora of sponsorship types ' sports, entertainment, cause, arts, festivals, associations and membership organizations ' which allow you the freedom to choose a sponsorship that fits seamlessly into you integrated marketing strategy and aligns with your brand essence. Finding the right partner that helps build brand credibility and is in alignment with your brand values is a win-win. 4. Let's Go Team! ' While not the primary reason for inking a sponsorship deal, the importance of how sponsorships boost company morale should not be forgotten. Sponsorships allow you to give employees access to meet their favorite athletes, to host a private concert, or even bring a really sweet branded bouncy house to the office. 5. The Schmoozing Affect ' Some business is done outside of the boardroom. The environment created by sponsorships is perfect for you to engage both your current and potential customers, leading to additional sales opportunities for you over a stadium hot dog. Do you invest in sponsorships? Leave a comment below with how sponsorships have helped grow your brand.