WASHINGTON, DC—Direct Impact, the grassroots advocacy subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller, has acquired Crowdverb, a digital management and advocacy firm based in Seattle.

Crowdverb specializes in using a data-driven approach to provide cost-effective, highly scalable mobilization of activists to impact issues and legislation, manage reputations and promote products. The two firms will use proprietary technology to complement the suite of traditional offerings Direct Impact has developed and refined over two decades.

Founding partners Cyrus Krohn (pictured), Todd Herman and Sally Poliak have experience at the intersection of politics and technology. Krohn, a veteran of CNN, Slate Magazine and Yahoo, and Herman, a veteran of Microsoft, served successive terms leading digital strategy for the Republican National Committee. Poliak is a leading Washington state communications consultant.

The firm’s Modern Mobilization approach combines exclusive technologies, data and tools with advanced micro-messaging tactics and brand building, encompassing the beliefs and attitudes of consumers, voters and activists.

According to Nicole Cornish, CEO of Direct Impact, “Crowdverb brings an acute understanding of the power of traditional advocacy, along with a unique knowledge of how to translate and grow that power exponentially online.”