Dentsu Aegis acquires major stake in creative agency BWM
Dentsu Aegis Network has confirmed it has bought a 51 per cent stake of BWM Group in Australia, Mumbrella can reveal.
The move will see BWM Group founders Rob Belgiovane, Paul Williams and Jamie Mackay all remain in senior executive roles with the agency, along with the existing leadership teams in its office in Sydney and Melbourne.
It sees BWM return to being owned by a holding group after the owners bought back the business from former holding company Enero in November 2012.
In a statement, Nick Waters, Asia Pacific CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network, said: “We are delighted to bring BWM Group into our company. This is a top quality agency with exceptional creative credentials. It is a major strategic step which adds a highly complementary business to our group in Australia.
Waters
“We have a strong group of market leading agencies in media, performance media, digital marketing, event and sport, and now advertising.
“By working alongside each other as one cohesive team we have the opportunity to create further advantage for our clients and our business.”
The BWM Group’s creative agency will change its name to BWM Dentsu.
The rest of the members of the group – digital communications agency Sputnik, consumer focused social public relations agency The POP Agency, agribusiness communication specialists Cox Inall Communications and indigenous communications specialists Cox Inall Ridgeway – will retain their names.
BWM Dentsu will be the flagship creative agency brand of the Dentsu Aegis Network in Australia alongside Oddfellows, which the network acquired in January last year and subsequently rolled its Dentsu creative agency into.
The agency was founded in 1996 and bought up by Enero, then known as Photon, in 2006. However the partners bought it back in November 2012 for $7.5m, with CEO of the BWM Group Paul Williams describing the move at the time as “a shot in the arm”.
Williams said today: “Big ideas that get Australians talking and transform and drive companies and brands will always be the core of our business.
“This partnership allows us the best of both worlds. We continue to manage our business with a strong sense of independence, while leveraging the enormous skills and assets across Dentsu Aegis Network.”
Hiroaki Charlie Sano, executive officer of Dentsu Inc. and global brand president of the Dentsu branded agencies said: “Dentsu is an agency network with significant creative ambition that has a long standing history and a strong footprint in the Asia Pacific region.
“With the creation of BWM Dentsu, we can further grow in the Australian market. We’re delighted to announce this important acquisition and to offer our clients a truly seamless service experience in the region.”
BWM clients include NBN Co, News Corp Australia, Bank of Queensland and Wesfarmers.
Miranda Ward
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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Nice one gents. Congrats.
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What does this mean for Denstu’s Huckleberry?
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Huckleberry are a full service business,
completely different business model to BWM Macka, great buy for dentsu adding another service stream which it didn’t already have…
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Massive congratulations guys. Love the idea of selling something twice. Trust your new co-owners will do a better job than the last mob.
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congratulations and well deserved.
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Hello Toyota…
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