The news was out  today that FirstClick Consulting have acquired digital marketing agency, MediaMax. Congratulations to Grace Chu, Mark Armstrong and team. Looks like an astute move.

Will 2012 be the year of even more consolidation in the digital performance agency space? I think so, but we will have to wait and see!

Here’s FirstClick’s press release…

FirstClick Consulting, Australia’s leading independent search marketing consultancy specialising in SEM, SEO, Conversion Optimisation and Digital Strategy, has acquired MediaMax, a digital performance agency that services clients including STA Travel and Schering – Plough.

MediaMax, founded in 2005, will operate under the FirstClick brand. As part of the acquisition, FirstClick welcomes James Tait, founder of MediaMax, who will join FirstClick as Client Services Director.

Grace Chu, CEO of FirstClick says, “We saw a fantastic opportunity to expand our reach into the travel sector by acquiring MediaMax. Not only are the MediaMax clients strong, premium brands but the MediaMax team, headed up by James Tait, allows us to grow our team rapidly and to an extremely high standard.”

FirstClick has also added three more premium brands to its impressive portfolio of clients. Medibank, Fuji Zerox and Amaysim have all appointed FirstClick Consulting to manage their search marketing campaigns. All three brands join the likes of ANZ, realestate.com.au, news Digital Media and seek.

Grace continues, “I’m thrilled with the rate of growth FirstClick is experiencing. We’re really excited to be working on such strong brands that are committed to leading the way in search marketing. We’ll continue to do what we do best – and that’s make money for our clients through strategic search marketing.”

Although specialists in search, FirstClick also provides the latest thinking and out-of-the-box solutions across ROI strategy, Local Search, Social Optimisation, Mobile Search, Video Search, Performance and Display Networks, Analytics and Training.