Communisis snaps up Life in £23m deal
Communications group Communisis has acquired London and Birmingham-based marketing agency Life in a deal worth £23m.
The fee reflects what Communisis claims is an “unparalleled opportunity” to fashion a more integrated offering, leveraging Life’s shopper marketing and experiential expertise into the work it does for brands such as Molson Coors and Samsung.
No redundancies or structural overhauls are planned for the 70-strong agency and joint owners Ian Humphris and David Poole will continue to run the business as MDs. The agency will stay true to its “insightful marketing” values, Humphris said.
He added: “We had no immediate plans to sell but were approached out of the blue with an offer that very quickly will allow us to deliver on our global growth ambitions. It also soon became evident after just a few conversations that Communisis has a very progressive view of agency acquisition – a breath of fresh air from the standard M&A deals offered by the major networks. It’s a new way of thinking about deals.
“We’ve always tried to maintain a flexible strategy and this deal plays into LIFE’s ambitions and our desire to create something exceptional for our clients. In seven years we’ve created a business that’s achieved a great deal, continues to broaden the breadth of competence and our clients will only benefit from what Communisis has to offer.”
Communisis has been on acquisition drive of late, sealing multi-million pound deals for The Communications Agency earlier this year as well as Jacaranda Productions and Public Creative in an effort to broaden its skill set to include video, film and digital capabilities.