London, United Kingdom – Smartly.io, a global social advertising software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, has announced the acquisition of creative optimization platform Ad-Lib.io. Said acquisition advances Smartly.io’s cross-channel reach from social to now include dynamic creative optimization across programmatic, CTV and the entire Google ecosystem.

In addition, Smartly.io’s SaaS solution for social advertising will now be augmented by Ad-Lib.io’s enterprise suite of creative tools for YouTube, DV360 and Google Ads campaigns. The industry is seeing a growing demand for solutions that bring creative and media closer together across all channels.

Kristo Ovaska, CEO and co-founder at Smartly.io, said that the past two years have proven that creative technology has become the most important lever for driving digital advertising performance.

“Ad-Lib.io is a clear leader in the creative space by innovating on the mission-critical dimensions of workflow, automation, brand governance, personalization and insight. Their knowledge of the Google stack is unmatched in the industry and combining that with Smartly.io’s deep understanding of Facebook and the social stack across creative, media and data allows us to now serve customers across all major digital channels,” Kristo said.

Meanwhile, Oli Marlow-Thomas, founder and president at Ad-Lib.io, commented, “Smartly.io is the preeminent leader in delivering creative and media effectiveness for social. With brand marketers and agencies increasingly uniting their social and programmatic teams into integrated digital creative and media investment teams, this is a natural next step for both companies.”

In addition, Adit Abhyankar, CEO at Ad-Lib.io, added, “These teams are currently using multiple technologies or software partners, but going forward they won’t have to. The Smartly.io and Ad-Lib.io solution will provide the connective tissue to maximize creative effectiveness, media buying and creative intelligence.”

Smartly.io has its Asia-Pacific headquarters located in Singapore, while Ad-Lib.io has a presence in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong – Ad-Lib.io, a global creative management platform, has announced that it will be expanding its presence to Hong Kong, and has also added two new members to its regional team as the company expands its focus on the Greater China region to enable further global growth.

Randal Foo takes the helm as RVP of Sales in APAC and Rishima Mohindru as the platform’s client partner for Hong Kong and Greater China.

Foo joins Ad-Lib.io from his previous sales positions at enterprise tag management Tealium and customer engagement company Cheetah Digital, where he served as regional sales and head of sales respectively. He brings to the company nearly 15 years of sales and digital marketing experience in the Asia Pacific region. 

Ad-Lib.io-Hong-Kong-Expansion-Appointment-New-Hires
(Left) Randal Foo, RVP of Sales in APAC; (Right) Rishima Mohindru, client partner for Hong Kong and Greater China.

Meanwhile, Mohindru comes from media company Omnicom Media Group, where she served as lead of APAC recently. She brings to the company her experience in helping brands expand their digital footprint while growing their online business through her deep understanding of the industry spanning from execution to strategy.

Both new hires will report to Rupert Privett, head of APAC at Ad-Lib.io.

“APAC advertisers face huge challenges delivering effective creative for their campaigns due to limited resources to produce and adapt relevant creative across multiple formats, channels, audiences, cultures, and markets,” Privett said.

He added, “To have the most impact, APAC advertisers need tools to simplify their production and targeting processes and we are proud to be uniquely positioned to help them achieve their goals.”