Mr Youth was formed in 2002 by Matt Britton (pictured) and will operate as a division of LBi, with Britton remaining chief executive officer. It’s proprietary platforms and technologies are used to provide insight about a company’s customers, help develop product ideas and launch word-of-mouth marketing campaigns.

The firm employs 140 full-time staff and expects to report net sales of $25m for 2011. In 2009, Mr Youth received private equity backing from investors Alta Communications and The Mustang Group.

LBi CEO Luke Taylor said: “Globally, we are seeing revolutionary change in consumer buying behaviour. Our clients are therefore driving rapid growth of social media services within LBi, and the US leads the world market in this field. We believe Mr Youth is head and shoulders above its competitors due to both the quality of it people and the strength of its proprietary technology platforms.”