Digital advertising pioneer John Ferber, who with his brother Scott built and sold Baltimore-based Advertising.com to AOL in 2004 for nearly $500 million, has agreed to the acquisition of his contextual and native demand-side platform Bidtellect by Simpli.fi. Ferber co-founded the Delray, Florida based Bidtellect in early 2011 and has been its chairman since inception.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Bidtellect team as we continue to enhance and scale our advertising automation platform. From industry-leading brand safety technology, premium supply quality, superior contextual capabilities, and proprietary bid factoring and optimization technology, Bidtellect consistently outperforms competitors, and will bring immediate value to our clients,” said Frost Prioleau, CEO of Simpli.fi. “Our team is excited about this integration as we continue to scale in 2023 and beyond.”

According to the announcement, as a highly automated demand-side platform, Simpli.fi has long enabled advertisers of all sizes to operate more effectively and efficiently. Similarly, Bidtellect’s robust contextual targeting suite combines the industry’s best third-party contextual integrations with its proprietary contextual targeting solutions.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. In 1998, John and his brother started Teknosurf, which would later evolve into Advertising.com.

Deidre McCabe

GKV announced that Deidre McCabe, former Director of Communications for the Maryland Department of Health (MDH), will join the Baltimore-based communications agency as its Communications Strategist, focusing on the new GKV Health division and other initiatives.

“Once in a while timing works perfectly. Our opportunity to hire Deidre is one of those times,” said GKV CEO Roger Gray. “Her deep experience in public health awareness and education is an ideal fit for GKV’s recently launched health care marketing division.”

Prior to joining GKV, McCabe held a number of communications leadership roles in government and nonprofit organizations. As Director of Communications for MDH, she developed a statewide communications program for the $17 billion agency, built a robust communications team and coordinated with 24 local health departments. For two and a half years, she directed the state’s public response for the COVID-19 pandemic in collaboration with the Governor’s Office, other state agencies, dozens of community partners and multiple contractors.

In February, GKV launched a new division within the company – GKV Health – to prioritize strategic healthcare marketing and capitalize on 40 plus years’ experience in this category. Explaining the company’s broad experience in healthcare, CEO Roger Gray pointed to successful marketing, branding and advertising campaigns for health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid, over-the-counter medicines, wellness programs and nutrition, healthcare delivery and public health awareness campaigns.

“There isn’t a category within health that we haven’t touched over the years,” he said. “GKV Health allows us to feature our capabilities as an integrated whole, making it easier for potential clients to identify relevant campaigns and evaluate how our agency can manage their needs. For many of our clients, they have a cause – it’s a passion. They need an agency that shares their enthusiasm and dedication.”

Nekoro Gomes

The Greater Baltimore Committee announced Nekoro Gomes will join the region’s leading business advocacy organization as vice president of communications. Gomes will lead GBC’s newly combined communications and events staff and will work with GBC’s board and leadership team to reposition the regional marketing and economic branding message. One of his first assignments will be to lead the new branding of GBC to more accurately reflect the organization following its merger with the Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore. Most recently, he served as Marketing Strategy Director for the New York City Housing Authority. Prior to NYCHA, Gomes was a creative marketing strategist with the New York City-based strategic communications and reputation management firm Rubenstein.

Warschawski announced the addition of Meghan Grogan as senior associate to oversee client relations and strategic communications campaigns. Before joining Warschawski, Grogan served as the social media manager at LifeBridge Health, where she oversaw the creation, management and implementation of social media content for LifeBridge Health, Carroll Hospital and BridgingLife, as well as leading ongoing brand initiatives.

Main Photo: John Ferber via Bidtellect