Interpublic Group leverages its experience designing business, hedge, and e-commerce data platform, Intelligence Node.

Hedge’s new owner is private equity firm AEA Investors, which bought the agency for an undisclosed sum. AEA – whose portfolio includes everything from Burt’s Bees personal care to roofing and chemical companies – will merge Huge with its existing AEA veteran, Hero Digital. Founded in 1999, Huge has worked for brands including Google, McDonald’s and Nike.

IPG’s purchase of IntelligenceNode follows Omnicom’s deal with digital commerce platform Flywheel a year ago.

Interpublic CEO Philip Krakowski said: “As commerce and retail media continue to increasingly converge, actionable data is critical to maximizing brand performance.”

Krakowsky has also announced his intention to offload R/GA, which, like Huge, is the kind of big digital business that was once considered the future of holding companies. “Digital” seems to be caught between branding and tech, resulting in some well-known companies being squeezed out.

Also in potential trouble is WPP’s former digital powerhouse AKQA – already nominally part of the Gray advertising network – which is losing senior executives at an alarming rate: founder Ijaz Ahmed and key ally Sam Kelly. Both resigned a few weeks ago, and today Ron Patterson, EMEA managing partner, and Johnny Budden, global chief creative officer, also announced their departures.