Kansas City indie Barkley fully acquires Boulder partner shop Grenadier

Grenadier was founded as a partner agency to Barkley in 2012 as a strategic and creative boutique focused mainly on emerging brands. The team in Boulder, the agency said, has evolved into a ‘more seamless’ extension of Barkley, working with clients such as Bass Pro Shops and Thrivent Financial.

This new structural shift means that the agency now has a company-wide lead for each of its clients, regardless of location. The office location and leadership from Grenadier has remained intact, with Jeff Graham (formerly managing director at Grenadier) being named senior vice president, managing director for Barkley. Grenadier partners Wade Paschall and Randy Rogers were named vice president, group creative directors.

Graham said in a statement: “I’m excited for our team to be able to work on big, important brand problems faster than we could as a stand-alone agency, and to have the support and depth that our Kansas City office brings us.

Jeff King, Barkley’s chief executive, added: “The agency with the best people wins—and our job is to get an unfair share of great talent. We believe expanding the Barkley footprint to include Boulder helps us achieve that.”

Now at an expanded footprint of over 400 staffers, Barkley has retained its title as the largest independent, employee-owned agency in the US. The shift to expand to Boulder, the agency said, opens up Barkley to the ‘high concentration’ of startups and looked to be another viable agency destination for advertising professionals.