A business does not buy a storage system. People do. Some worry about whether it works. Others worry about the bill. Someone will have to explain the decision afterward. For DWA, the San Francisco media agency founded by David Wood in 1996, that collection of people became a commercial opportunity: help technology companies find the audience hidden inside a corporate account.
- The specialty: media and marketing for technology businesses.
- The method: connect account knowledge, audience data and media execution.
- The turn: acquired in 2017; the DWA name retired into Merkle B2B in 2022.
The buyer has colleagues
DWA’s wager becomes clearer in its 2015 partnership with programmatic software company DataXu. The announcement described marketers concentrating on job titles and late-stage leads while overlooking the wider buying team. A name in a database could tell you who downloaded something. It could leave you guessing about everyone else involved in approving the purchase.
The proposed solution connected DataXu’s media-buying software to DWA’s in-house Adaptive Marketing Platform. Multiple data sources would inform audience selection, personalized experiences, testing and lead management. In plain English: learn more about the people, coordinate where you reach them, and use the response to improve the next decision.
This was an agency selling expertise and execution. Media planning and buying sat alongside search, social, account-based marketing, content consulting and marketing automation. A client bought help making those activities work together. The distinction from a general media shop was the sustained focus on technology companies and their particular purchasing audiences.
The customer list made that positioning tangible. Dentsu’s acquisition announcement named Cisco, NetApp, Sprint, DXC, Salesforce, Oracle and Informatica. These were businesses selling products and services that required explanation. For their marketers, reaching a relevant person was useful; understanding that person’s place within an account was more useful still.
Take the campaign out for a ride
Consider NetApp’s 2019 brand campaign. The assignment was to build awareness among stakeholders at identified business accounts. DWA’s plan included digital publishing partnerships and familiar online channels, but it also followed IT decision-makers into the physical world. There were free taxi rides outside conferences. There were airport Wi-Fi sponsorships. The working day supplied the media map.
The campaign also consolidated programmatic partners under one buying platform. That combination is revealing: expand the places where the audience encounters the brand, while simplifying the machinery used to reach it. A reproduced case study reports reaching 88% of target-list companies. Those are campaign-reported account outcomes, rather than proof of resulting sales. That distinction matters when a marketing report reaches someone responsible for the sales forecast.
A global business needs a usable meeting
DWA had a more ordinary technology problem of its own. Logitech’s customer case describes an agency spread across nine international locations. Video meetings promised to reduce travel, yet expensive equipment, awkward setup and poor pictures got in the way. The tool intended to connect the business was creating friction.
DWA chose Logitech GROUP, using it with Zoom and WebEx. The account stresses practical matters: installation, audiovisual quality and compatibility. One testimonial reduced the selling point to eight words: “It’s as simple as plugging into a MacBook.” Sometimes a technology decision really does come down to whether the meeting can start.
The vendor reports more than $30,000 in travel savings during the first three months. That is a concrete operating result, with an obvious boundary: it comes from a supplier’s case study. The useful lesson is about adoption. Equipment specifications matter less if setup is difficult enough that people avoid using the equipment.
The specialist joins the system
By 2016, DWA was reorganizing its own leadership. Wood moved to chairman; Bob Ray became global CEO. The announcement tied that change to a broader client brief: chief marketing officers needed agencies that could interpret technology and analytics, then turn findings into action. Sector familiarity alone would have to support a wider set of skills.
In December 2017, dentsu acquired DWA for Merkle. The purchase price was undisclosed. Ray’s explanation to AdExchanger was refreshingly direct: “We were looking for a growth plan at DWA”. He also said the businesses had already worked together on data management. The acquisition formalized a relationship with practical uses.
“We were looking for a growth plan at DWA”Bob Ray / AdExchanger, December 2017
The business continued to grow within the group. B2B Marketing’s 2020 US report placed Merkle DWA fourth among B2B marcomms agencies and first in its fastest-growing table. Reported year-over-year gross-income growth was 27.52%. This measures agency income growth, not a promised return on a client’s advertising spend.
In September 2020, Merkle B2B brought together five businesses: Merkle, DWA, gyro, B2B International and Digital Pi. Their respective strengths covered data, media, creativity, research and automation. In January 2022, Merkle formally integrated gyro and DWA under Merkle B2B, retiring the names. The stated reason was demand for broader, more unified client solutions.
Start with the account list
The practical lesson is available without buying an agency. Choose the accounts that matter. Identify the people involved. Plan encounters around their behavior, and define what a useful response looks like before spending. NetApp’s taxis make memorable scenery; the account list gives the exercise its purpose.
That approach depends on accurate audience information, meaningful content and a destination worth visiting. It also needs measurement beyond the first click. If the account list is wrong, precise targeting can concentrate the mistake. If nobody follows up, a well-attended landing page can remain an expensive stopping point.
DWA now belongs to the history of a broader offering. Today, dentsu B2B combines insight, creative, customer experience and media; its public work includes Intel, Workday and Adobe. The enduring question is familiar: who needs to understand this purchase, and what would help them move it forward? DWA built a business by taking that question seriously.