Disrupt acquires Imagen Insights, appoints Jay Richards as managing director

UK influencer marketing agency Disrupt has acquired audience research platform Imagen Insights, as it looks to embed data more directly into its creator work.

As part of the deal, Imagen co-founder Jay Richards will serve as managing director of Disrupt Marketing. In the role, Richards will lead the agency’s next phase of growth and oversee the integration of Imagen’s platform into Disrupt’s work.

Imagen co-founder Cat Agostinho will continue to lead platform management and client delivery.

Disrupt said the acquisition will enable it to make decisions “grounded in how people actually think, feel and behave”, rather than relying solely on surface-level performance indicators.

“Influencer marketing has moved past intuition and surface metrics,” said Tina Judic, chairman of Tomorrow Group, which owns Disrupt. “Imagen brings real audience insight into the heart of our work, and Jay’s appointment gives Disrupt the leadership to turn that insight into stronger, more effective campaigns for clients.”

The acquisition comes as brands are paying closer attention to how influencer campaigns are evaluated, beyond headline engagement figures.

Founded in 2018, Imagen Insights is best known for its Imagen Index, which captures audience feedback and applies it to creator campaigns.

In a post announcing the acquisition, Richards said the deal would help “the world’s largest brands harness the raw, unfiltered voice of their audiences and apply it directly to creator strategy, creative direction and performance,”.

The deal sits within Tomorrow Group’s wider portfolio, which also includes digital agency Found, data AI consultancy Braidr and search intelligence platform Luminr.

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