Starcom And Motive Confirm Merger
The Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) and Leo (Burnett) Group agencies have this afternoon confirmed the merger of their respective UK media operations, Motive and Starcom, to form the Starcom Motive Partnership (SMP). The combined group will become the third largest media services company in the UK with estimated annual billings of £440 million.
SMP will be based in Motive’s Soho offices in London and will act as the headquarters of the European Middle East and Africa (EMEA) operations of the Starcom global network. Motive’s existing managing director, Mark Cranmer, will become the managing director of Starcom Europe, Middle East and Africa whilst retaining his MD role at SMP.
The news of the deal follows a three-way merger last November between Burnett, MacManus and Dentsu to form global advertising network, BDM (see Leo Burnett And MacManus Form Global Advertising Giant). At the time it was thought that Burnett’s Starcom might form a joint operation with MacManus’ MediaVest agency in the UK. However, it emerged shortly after that the Starcom/Motive deal was still under discussion.
Motive, which was launched in 1995, now has over 40 clients and works with 14 creative agencies. Starcom operates across 75 markets working for a number of multinational clients; the UK office of Starcom officially rebranded from Leo Burnett in July last year.
Commenting on the merger Mark Cranmer says: “I am genuinely delighted that we have managed to agree this merger. As a management team we are in total agreement as to the sort of media company we hope to create. Both Motive and Starcom have proud but essentially complementary cultures that are fundamentally rooted in absolute objectivity and strong client delivery. I believe we are creating a company with an unrivalled talent base, which is determined to capitalise on the challenges of the emergent media environment.”
The SMP management structure, reporting to Cranmer, will include: Richard Beaven, executive UK planning director (formerly Starcom UK joint managing director); Kevin Brown, executive strategic development director (formerly Motive strategic development director); David Connolly, executive director European operations (formerly Starcom UK joint managing director); Iain Jacob, executive client services director (formerly Motive client services director) and Andy Roberts, executive UK buying director (formerly Motive buying director).
Richard Beaven says: “Despite our early success as a standalone venture, which has seen our billings increase by £100 million, the management team here are in no doubt that joining forces with Motive represents an accelerated opportunity for all our people and clients. There is a real ambition and shared vision on both sides of this merger to create a new company that sets the benchmark for market-leading media delivery in a dramatically changing environment.”
The SMP offices are expected to be fully up and running and housing all 140-plus employees by April this year.
Motive: 020 7453 4444 Starcom: 0171 591 9111