NZ's most effective indie ad agency acquired by global company
Barnes, Catmur & Friends has sold a majority stake of its agency to Dentsu Aegis.
New Zealand’s most effective independent advertising agency is no longer indie, after being acquired by global media group Dentsu Aegis Network.
Auckland-based Barnes, Catmur & Friends has sold a majority stake of its agency to the network and has been renamed BC&F Dentsu.
The agency was awarded the world’s fifth most effective independent agency by the Effie Effectiveness Index last year.
There will be no change to the agency’s leadership team, which comprises founders Daniel Barnes and Paul Catmur alongside general manager Luke Farmer.
“We have no desire to change the things that have made Barnes, Catmur & Friends so successful in the past. Daniel, Paul and Luke are great leaders,” Dentsu Aegis Network NZ chief executive Rob Harvey says.
“The business is complementary to our group, both from a capability and cultural perspective.”
Mr Catmur says the agency’s existing set of “great clients and people” remains his priority but is looking forward to new opportunities.
Dentsu Aegis will let the pair continue their creative freedom while also giving them access to more talent, services, tools, data and technology, Mr Barnes says.
He founded the agency in 1996 and was joined by Mr Catmur in 2008. It currently employs 31 staff and will become Dentsu Aegis’ first creative agency in New Zealand.
A Dentsu Aegis spokeswoman refused to disclose the figures of the acquisition.
Barnes, Catmur & Friends works with a number of New Zealand businesses including Hell Pizza, Southern Cross Health Society and the Heart Foundation.
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Chelsea Armitage
Tue, 01 Mar 2016
Tue, 01 Mar 2016
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NZ's most effective indie ad agency acquired by global company
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