Value+Nettwork, the investment holding company controlled by the Kirsh family, has acquired a 37% holding in Colony, with the option to increase its stake to 51%.
Colony provides a "message aggregation tool that provides brands the ability to manage interactions with audiences on one easy-to-use interface," says Value+ in a statement.
It explains it works by taking every interaction a customer has with a client - whether via social media, SMS, USSD, MMS or e-mail - and creating a unique profile of the customer for the client from the information gathered across these platforms.
Value+ founder and CEO William Kirsh says Colony's "unique technology further strengthens our promise of becoming South Africa's leading provider of turnkey loyalty solutions. Colony closes the loop for us in that we are now able to move our customer loyalty proposition beyond just tracking consumer transactions, to virtual loyalty extending from brands engaging with their consumers, to employers keeping their staff loyal, leveraging the entire digital landscape."
Value+ was three years in the making and centres on distributing "value", which it defines as any form of rewards, such as discounts or benefits. It's the holding company for eight strategically aligned businesses and has an acquisition programme targeted at making it the largest owner and distributor of what it terms "value categories" to corporate loyalty programmes and direct to consumer. It also has a focus on acquiring or developing unique digital technology.
Last month, it acquired a 51% stake in The Loyalty Box - a specialist loyalty, rewards and analytics company, with the founders retaining 49%. That deal followed a purchase earlier this year of Mygeni, which develops loyalty solutions for companies and brands in social media.
Value+ says Colony's technology is proven as more than 24 million messages have been sent in more than 6 000 campaigns with 155 registered companies, including privately owned radio stations, advertising and promotional agencies, consumer brand companies, media owners and publishers.
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