Our marketing services clients have had expertise in areas including advertising, events and experiential marketing, behavioural economics, branding, data analytics, digital marketing and SEO, e-commerce, field marketing, market research, marketing communication, packaging design, print marketing, photography, public relations, retail display design, strategy, website development, and mobile and UX design.
Marketing services is an interesting space from an M&A point of view. There are a number of acquisitive corporations who use acquisitions to bolt on new capabilities and consolidate their market. This means entrepreneurs may have the opportunity to accelerate their company’s development by coming under the umbrella of a larger business. Private equity investors and professional services firms are also showing an increased interest in making acquisitions in the marketing sector.
The most common theme that emerges from our conversations with prospective acquirers is a need to buy businesses that can help engage customers, to strengthen and lengthen customer relationships. Depending on the nature of the acquirer’s trade, the solution to this challenge could lie anywhere from traditional marketing to data analytics technology.
Some of our transactions in the sector are highlighted below.