Product category:
Direct marketing agencies
News Release from: Engine Group
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 15 February 2008
Engine stokes direct expertise fire
Marketing and communications group Engine has acquired 100 per cent of leading independent UK direct marketing agency Partners Andrews Aldridge and its associate, Fuel Data Strategies.
At the same time, Engine has agreed terms to acquire the minority interests in its existing direct marketing business, Personal, and plans to merge the two direct marketing companies into a single 100-person entity that will trade under the Partners Andrews Aldridge brand The deal will position the enlarged operation as one of the top ten direct solutions providers in the UK, enhancing Engine's reputation for offering the best-in-class solutions across UK marketing services
Phil Andrews will become Chief Executive of the combined company with Steve Aldridge as Executive Creative Director and Chairman.
Chris Ward and Greig McCallum join the new expanded board as Managing Partner and Planning Partner.
Peter Scott, CEO of Engine, said: "We are building a broadly based group that can help our clients respond to the tough marketing and communication challenges they are facing in today's complex media environment.
"Engine's vision is for a group of best-in-class companies that can work with clients to optimise marketing and communications planning and execution in the 21st century.
"The deals with Partners Andrews Aldridge and Fuel complement the existing Engine skill-sets and bring on board highly talented management teams who will work with us to build the business into a leader in the sector".
Chris Ward, Managing Partner, said: "A merger can only succeed when you find two businesses that truly complement and enhance each other, in terms of scale, capability, vision and ambition.
"We've already begun to map out the future for the new Partners Andrews Aldridge in Engine, and it is clear that this business will bring significant new opportunities for our teams and our clients - it is a tremendous next step".
Phil Andrews, the new Chief Executive, commented: "In our 10th year we needed to think about the future of the agency in a dramatically changing direct marketing landscape.
"Being part of Engine offers us a platform to take on that challenge; it provides us with access to a much greater depth of capability in key areas such as digital and experiential which are becoming vital to direct marketers".
Steve Aldridge, Executive Creative Director and Chairman, added: "Engine is the spiritual home of Partners: like us, they place creativity and ideas in any medium at the heart of everything they do.
"This deal creates a springboard for our culture and philosophy to grow and develop, giving us the chance to collaborate with the other best-in-class agencies in Engine.
"The next five years will be crucial for our industry, we need to redefine what direct marketing means and we are in the right place to do that".
Engine, which posted revenues of nearly GBP40 million for 2007, will now number almost 600 people in 11 partner companies spanning the marketing services industry: brand development, advertising, brand activation, direct marketing, digital, sponsorship and public relations.
The UK media market is the third largest in the world and the group has projected revenues for 2008 of over GBP60 million, treble what it achieved in its first year in 2005.
The latest companies to join the Engine stable are both well established in the market.
Partners Andrews Aldridge is one of the leading direct marketing agencies in the UK and was founded in 1998 by Phil Andrews and Steve Aldridge.
Fuel specialises in data planning and will become a centre of excellence in data analytics, metrics and data management in the Engine group.
Key clients of the enlarged business include Vodafone, GSK, BBC, and COI.
Peter Scott said the timing on the acquisition of Partners Andrews Aldridge and Fuel was ripe, with communicators placing an increasing importance on sophisticated data planning to measure return on investment: "Data analytics have become central to the planning and development of marketing across discipline, and will remain important in demonstrating the measurable value of campaigns.
"It is essential that Engine is able to offer this capability at its heart, especially in substantiating the value of our integrated solutions".
This latest announcement brings The Engine Group's total acquisition spend in the last three months to GBP25 million including: Liquid Communications, which merged with WOO in December 2007; Digital Public - Engine bought an initial 60 per cent stake in November with the balance to follow over the next four years; Republic PR, acquired and merged with public affairs specialist AS Biss to form Mandate in November 2007.
The Engine Group is one of the UK's fastest growing integrated communications groups and the largest privately owned marketing services group in the UK.
Formed in 2005, Engine has been built through a strategy of organic growth and acquisition.
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