Marshall Fenn acquires digital agency Webfeat

http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/agency/article.jsp?content=20100324_170107_552
Advertising and public relations firm Marshall Fenn has acquired Webfeat Mulitmedia, a 13-year old digital agency.

The agency has been searching for a digital agency for more than a year, and began serious discussions with Webfeat last autumn.

The deal will see former Webfeat owner Andrea Gerard leaving the organization, however all other Webfeat staff–including David Zbar, vice-president, client service and Meredith MacKeigan, vice-president client strategy–will remain with the team, which is in the process of moving into the Marshall Fenn offices.

"We've believed in convergence for some time now, and have been practising integrated communications, including interactive for several years. It's crucial to the future of marketing communications," said Jim Kabrajee, a partner at Marshall Fenn. "We plan to integrate Webfeat into Marshall Fenn to create an agency of cross-disciplinary marketing experts."

Webfeat's culture matched that of his agency, Kabrajee told Marketing. "And a lot of it comes down to a shared vision of the future. We think there will not be advertising agencies and digital agencies. There will just be an agency. That didn't play well with other shops, but it did with Webfeat."

At 33 staff members prior to the acquisition, Marshall Fenn had some digital expertise prior to the acquisition. Jane Ricciadelli, who remains with the agency, managed interactive strategy and development, but "everything else went out of house, like most other agencies," said Kabrajee.
Believing digital expansion would increase business opportunities, Kabrajee and partner Paul Chater elected to acquire, rather than build, a digital shop to expand quickly.

The name of the now-expanded agency has not been finalized. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Originally published in Marketing Magazine,

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