Product category:
Integrated marketing
News Release from: iris
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial
Team on 02 May 2008
Iris buys management consultancy Concise
Independent marketing agency iris has announced its first acquisition after nine strong years of international organic growth.
The acquisition of management consultancy firm Concise is a move aimed at developing deeper business partnerships with clients The deal signals the introduction of a new integrated agency model, which addresses clients' broader business issues beyond traditional marketing services
This article was originally published on Marketingservicestalk on 5 Mar 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Brand activation agency appoints top team
The Marketing Store is making a string of appointments and promotions to support the agency's expansion
Andrea Morris joins expanding digital team
Design-led through-the-line marketing agency Avian has hired Andrea Morris as a digital producer as part of the continued expansion of its digital division.
Concise works across a number of industries delivering strategic change for clients that include Costa Coffee, Intercontinental Hotels, AstraZeneca and Fitness First.
Concise is considered a specialist in the leisure and gaming sector and works frequently with private equity firms looking to grow or acquire leisure and retail assets.
The terms of the GBP5m deal are based on an innovative 'earn-in' model rather than the standard advertising 'earn out' structure.
Further reading
Marketing Store gains prestigious Star Status
Leading global brand activation agency The Marketing Store has been awarded prestigious Star Status within the Best Companies Accreditation Scheme.
Brand activation agency picks global chief
The Marketing Store has appointed David Bender as the agency's new chief executive officer, replacing Graham Kemp who retired at the beginning of the year.
UEFA picks Marketing Store as official supplier
UEFA has appointed global brand activation agency The Marketing Store as the Preferred Premium Supplier for the UEFA EUROTOP.
This innovative approach links the future wealth of the Concise business with that of iris thereby ensuring the alignment of both iris and Concise going forward.
iris is seeking to offer more breadth, depth and value by forging relationships further upstream in its clients' business strategies.
By placing greater emphasis on the fundamentals of business performance, iris hopes to become an integral development partner and so deliver more relevant, more rewarding and more creative work.
"The integrated agency model of the future has to be about more than just communications to have a long term effect on a client's business", said Ian Millner CEO and founder of iris.
"Integration is about business partnership and we want to become inseparable from our key clients because of the difference we make, the value we add and our energising effect on their perspective and performance.
"Concise gets to the heart of clients' business needs and our relationship with them allows us to develop a deeper understanding of where we can add value".
Benjamin Chillcot, co-founder and joint managing director of Concise, said: "We are a dynamic and ambitious company that shares a similar culture and ethos to iris.
"Our shared values and ambitions make us perfect partners to deliver services that meet the ever-changing needs of our clients".
The deal is part of ambitious growth plans for iris, which last year secured multimillion-pound interest-free funding from the Royal Bank of Scotland's Entrepreneur Challenge to kick-start a programme of acquisitions and aid further global expansion.
Iris intends to continue to diversify by both discipline and geography and has signalled interest in a number of markets including Brazil, Hong Kong, Russia, Germany and South Africa.
The micro network currently has offices in the key hubs of North America, South America, Europe and Asia-Pacific which service a global client base that includes Sony Ericsson, Shell, adidas and ING.
Concise's business problem solving capabilities will be central to iris' offering which includes advertising, PR, digital, direct marketing, sales promotion and experiential and the service will be rolled out globally.
Iris has grown 50 per cent every year since it was started up in 1999 and has a turnover of over GBP42 million.
Built on a co-operative model with a significant amount of the profits being shared among its 450 employees, iris was started up in response to what the founders saw as the mediocrity of the traditional big networks.
Concise was co-founded in January 2002 by joint managing directors Benjamin Chilcott, James George and Josh Thomson, with the mission of being the antidote to the big dominant players.
• iris: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Marketingservicestalk email newsletter
• Marketingservicestalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
