Independent agency Paykel Media bought by barter company Active International
One of Australia’s longest established independent media agencies Paykel Media has been acquired by corporate trade company Active International for an undisclosed price.
Paykel Media, which was founded in 1999 and has offices in both Sydney and Melbourne, will now join a global network of more than 500 staff across 14 countries.
Tony Paykel, left, and Active International’s Cameron Swan
Active International is a corporate trading platform which facilitates corporate barter, where companies swap their own existing products or services for others available on the platform. This can include media advertising spend.
Speaking to Mumbrella, Cameron Swan, group MD at Active International, said it will be business as usual for both Paykel Media and Active International.
“Independence is important to us so they are an independent media agency and we are an independent corporate trade company.
“As far as value we are looking to improve our capabilities but also deliver extra value to our clients, our suppliers and some of our agency partners.
“We don’t have media buying capabilities, which is fine, it is not something we have every really needed. Being independent is important because we don’t have any alliance to any network globally so Paykel Media being independent is good and what it does is it allows us to build scale in the market and we are more important to all of our partners with that scale.”
Swan said Paykel will continue to work with its existing clients but the acquisition gives the agency exposure to global experience and global products.
When it launched, Paykel set out with a vision to be “the most trusted, client focused media agency in Australia”.
Paykel Media’s managing director Tony Paykel will report in to Swan.
Clients of Paykel Media include Thompson’s, Blamey Saunders Hears, Meares & Associates, Jalna and Savills.
In 2017 Paykel Media acquired The Media Kitchen in Melbourne.
Shortly after its acquisition of TMK, Paykel appointed former OMD Singapore general manager Scott Kimberley to lead its Melbourne operation.
In a climate where independent media agencies are quickly being acquired, Paykel Media leaves the independent agency scene which includes other agencies such as Hatched Media, Nunn Media, Slingshot, Atomic 212, Media 33 and Avenue C.
In October 2017 two former IPG Mediabrands executives launched Avenue C, an independent media agency which claimed to be “entirely transparent”.
Meanwhile, in other acquisitions, Hatched Media bought media and marketing agency Frank Media last March.
Two years ago advertising agency M&C Saatchi acquired Bohemia, which at the time was one of the bigger independent media agency players.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Nice work Tony and Cam – both exceptional businesses – a perfect match!
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The obvious question….did Active pay cash or barter credits?
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Surely barter
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Congrats TP. I remember a coffee conversation many moons ago about starting Paykel media. Lovely to see your success!
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