Evocatif takes over Icre8
Retail activation agency Evocatif is to absorb fellow STW agency Icre8, with the Icre8 name disappearing and staff moving into the Evocatif offices.
The announcement:
Sydney, December 7, 2010: Evocatif and iCRE8, two of STW Group’s leading retail activation agencies, today announced they are joining forces in a move that will further expand the Group’s retail capabilities andcontinue its pattern of strong growth in the sector.
The merger, effective from January 1, 2011, will create a market-leading agency with a focus on path to purchase and shopper marketing services.
The combined business will be known as Evocatif, run by Evocatif’s founding directors Janet Bailey and Brett Nichol. iCRE8’s Directors Melissa Gamble and Gareth Brock will also take on leadership roles and help shape the future direction of the business.
Evocatif CEO Janet Bailey said the decision to join forces with iCRE8 had come primarily from the desire to “broaden the scale and scope of services we can provide to our valued clients”.
“Evocatif and iCRE8 are both proven and serious players in this market, and over time it has become clear that we have a shared vision and complementary skills,” she said. “We both have strong, experienced and passionate teams dedicated to helping brands along the path to purchase and shopper engagement. We also know the retail activation market is set to rapidly evolve, so it made both good business and strategic sense for us to join forces and become an even stronger competitor in the market.”
iCRE8’s General Manager Melissa Gamble also said the move will “allow us to further expand our proven and specialised activation capabilities when coupled with Evocatif’s strong credentials in shopper marketing & path to purchase planning. The result will be a more robust and well rounded service offering to better meet our clients’ needs in the future,” she said.
“In addition, the combination of our two highly skilled teams will allow us to expand our service offering, with stronger creative capabilities, strategy and in-house production management,” she explained.
STW Group’s CEO Michael Connaghan said combining the outstanding skills sets within the two agencies would create strong project outcomes while providing economies of scale that would benefit both clients and the broader group.
“We’re delighted to see these two strong capabilities come together to build even bigger momentum and differentiation. We see big growth in our retail and activation sectors, driven by standout businesses like the new Evocatif,” he said.
iCRE8 staff will move to Evocatif’s Pyrmont offices this week in advance of the merger on January 1, 2011.
Bailey said clients would have the same dedicated teams working on their accounts to ensure continuity of relationships, while benefiting from the expanded service capabilities.
The merger is another strategic step in STW Group’s retail services and field marketing expansion; in October it announced it had taken a stake in ‘voice of the customer’ specialists Feedback ASAP, and in July, entered a joint venture agreement with international field marketing leaders Smollan. In May this year STW also purchased specialist field marketing and merchandising company Quality National Team (QNT).
Source: STW group press release
