Brainlabs has acquired Sparro, the largest independent digital media agency in Australia.
The move continues the raft of acquisitions made by the digital-first media agency in the past few years. In 2022, Brainlabs bought influencer marketing shop Fanbytes, Amazon agency Molzi, conversion rate optimisation company User Conversion, programmatic agency MediaNet and mobile ad creative studio Consumer Acquisition.
Sparro was founded in 2013 by brothers Morris and Cameron Bryant, who still run the agency. The company has grown to a team of over 110, handling A$200m of annual media spend for clients including FMCG giant Estée Lauder, retailer Petbarn and furniture company Temple & Webster.
The purchase also includes social-first content and creative shop Jack Nimble, which has been part of Sparro since 2021.
“I love Sparro and as we ramp up our global expansion plans I couldn’t be happier to officially welcome them to Brainlabs,” said global CEO Dan Gilbert. “Morris and Cameron are outstanding leaders who have built a remarkable business.
“This union signals a new era for media agencies and offers something groundbreaking for the Australian market. Like us, Sparro is fiercely independent and laser-focused on high-performance media solutions, consistently delivering top and bottom line gains for their clients.”
How Brainlabs’ Daniel Gilbert wants to build the biggest media company in the world
In a previous interview with The Media Leader, Gilbert outlined his vision to turn Brainlabs into one of the biggest media companies in the world. In September, the agency secured private equity investment from Falfurrias Capital Partners, which succeeded private equity group Livingbridge as the agency’s key investor. Former MediaCom chairman and CEO Stephen Allan joined Brainlabs as executive chairman in 2021.
Gilbert had hinted at his desire to approach further regional expansion through M&A, pointing to APAC and Western Europe as two key regions where the company would pursue potential targets.
“We have a large international capability to deliver media,” he said. “But we don’t have client services on the ground in certain key markets where we need to be, not just to service, but to win and work with some of the world’s largest advertisers.”
With Sparro, Brainlabs now has a stronger APAC footprint on top of its establishments in Singapore and India.
Other countries that Gilbert said Brainlabs could look to target include Germany, China, Japan and South Korea.
