The media and events company behind Cannes Lions and WARC has agreed to acquire the commercial assets of Effie, a global benchmark in marketing effectiveness.

The move, pending regulatory approval, would see Effie join Ascential's LIONS Division, bringing with it more than 55 global, regional and national Effie Awards programs, covering over 125 markets.

It comes just weeks after Ascential itself agreed to be acquired by global publisher and events business Informa for £1.16 billion ($AU2.28 billion). Informa boss Stephen Carter said the plan was to expand Ascential's "world-class B2B brands" into more sectors to "accelerate growth and take advantage of new opportunities".

In acquiring Effie, Ascential also plans to undertake a long term partnership with its not-for-profit arm, Effie Worldwide, which provides research and resources on effective marketing strategy. Moving ahead, the organisation will become The Effie LIONS Foundation, and will focus on educating the next generation of talent, offering training for all marketing students, particularly those under-represented in the marketing community. The Foundation will also provide a home for LIONS' existing not-for-profit initiatives and access to some of the LIONS Division digital products.

CEO of Ascential, Philip Thomas, said: "The coming together of LIONS and Effie is a powerful testament to the fact that effectiveness and creativity in marketing are inextricably linked. All enlightened businesses know that creative, effective marketing drives growth. This historic partnership will complement the insights and intelligence on marketing and creative effectiveness LIONS already offers via WARC, The Work and Contagious, providing marketing leaders worldwide with the data and evidence they need to make the case for creative marketing that matters. Meanwhile, the creation of The Effie LIONS Foundation, Inc. will educate and inspire our industry, and broaden the opportunities available to everyone to build a career in creativity and marketing."

President and CEO of Effie Worldwide, Traci Alford, will continue to lead Effie. She said: "We are excited to join LIONS with such a complementary, yet distinct, portfolio of brands. Closer collaboration between Effie, as the definitive marketing effectiveness benchmark globally, and the LIONS brands is an exciting prospect for the industry as our ability to share insights and find synergies in our data will help to dissect the role creativity plays in driving marketing effectiveness overall. Together we will be able to better understand the key drivers of growth and ultimately help all businesses succeed."