PR pitch wins and the biggest M&A deals for June 2026

This episode of the PRmoment Podcast, hosted by Ben Smith with guest Andrew Bloch, reviews June 2026 UK PR pitch wins and M&A activity in the PR and wider marketing sector.

Market sentiment and pitch environment

Bloch describes the UK PR pitch market as buoyant and optimistic at the mid‑year point. Agencies are reporting record months, strong new‑business pipelines, and clients releasing healthy campaign budgets on top of retainers. Despite political and economic uncertainty, including wars in Ukraine and Iran and rising energy prices, there is a “heads‑down and busy” pitch environment. Investment is particularly strong in social, consumer, and experiential work, with agencies that can prove genuine commercial impact winning out.

Notable pitch wins

A series of high‑profile wins illustrate where spend is flowing:

• Delphi wins UK comms for Gen Digital (Norton, Avast, LifeLock, etc.), a $4–5bn revenue cyber safety and financial wellness group. Wild Signal secures the global remit after an 11‑way pitch, then brings Delphi in for the UK.
• Tin Man, Appella Advisors, and Gladstone Place Partners win National Lottery operator Allwyn, spanning consumer activations and corporate advisory, taking over from Brunswick.
• Wonderland secures Ocean Spray across earned, creator, social, and trade, reinforcing its strength in food and drink/FMCG.
• Red wins Grant Thornton’s corporate comms to challenge conventions in professional services.
• Speed is appointed by Beko plc (Hotpoint, Whirlpool, Indesit, etc.) to oversee all six brands, building on a strong client of Brabantia, Post Office, Co‑op already Speed Clients.
• New agency Knock Three Times (founded by Kat Thomas) lands Westfield’s consumer comms, with a client explicitly citing their “creative storytelling and AI‑era visibility” proposition.
• Shook wins Innocent’s retained consumer press office, while Tin Man adds Yoplait; Boldspace wins Playmobil; and Smarts secures Costa Coffee.

A clear pattern emerges: successful agencies combine sector specialism (FMCG, retail, lifestyle) with integrated capabilities (earned, influencer, social, retail activation) and a strong commercial/strategic narrative.

M&A themes

On M&A, Bloch says the “M&A world is super busy”, driven by needs for scale, specialism, and social/creator capability:

• Accenture Song acquires Whalar, signalling how seriously big consultancies now take the creator economy and its projected $40bn+ value.
• LADbible Group buys a 75% stake in Uncovered for an initial £26m, aiming to combine publisher scale and insight with social‑first creativity, and to shift revenue towards more predictable, direct partnerships.
• Far on the Hill merges with Fourth Day to form an international tech PR agency across London, New York, Paris, and Manchester.
• Fleet Street takes a minority stake in KAM Insight in hospitality, potentially a strategic “try before you buy” move, deepening shared data and insight.
• Bacchus, a luxury lifestyle and hospitality specialist, is acquired by Mazarin Group, reinforcing the power of niche, best‑in‑class specialists.
• The long‑running Golin–Ketchum merger is finalised under the name Golin Ketchum, creating a large‑scale creative communications powerhouse within Omnicom, with Matt Neale as global CEO and Tamara Norman as global president.

Across these deals, Bloch stresses that scale + specialism + strategic/creative clout are becoming decisive, while content alone is commoditising under AI pressure, pushing value into strategy, creativity, and data‑driven effectiveness.

The podcast in quotes:

Market mood & impact focus

“The agencies that can prove genuine commercial impact are winning, Half two of the year is here. Let’s get on with it.” – Andrew Bloch [0:02:35]

On the M&A climate

“The M&A world at the moment is super busy. There is nobody sitting still… there are deals happening. There is movement, and it is buoyant for sure at the moment.” – Andrew Bloch [0:03:14]

On Delphi’s Gen Digital win

“This is a four to five billion dollar revenue business… a significant win for an agency of that age and size.” – Andrew Bloch [0:04:33]

On Knock Three Times and AI‑era visibility

“Knock Three Times offered something we hadn’t seen elsewhere – a progressive proposition that puts creative storytelling and AI‑era visibility on equal footing.” – Andrew Bloch (quoting Westfield’s head of marketing) [0:10:16]

On publishers buying agencies & the social sector

“This is a play for the future, and this will not be the first deal you will see in this space of this nature.” – Andrew Bloch, on LADbible–Uncovered and social agencies [0:24:28]

On AI and commoditised content

“Content is becoming very much a commodity service… AI is an enormous threat to any agency that is in the content space. The agencies that will survive… have the strategic relationships, the creative relationships at the top table.” – Andrew Bloch [0:23:31–0:24:28]

On Golin Ketchum’s ambition

“Our ambition is to become the defining agency of the decade, and I love that, because it’s a massive ambition.” – Andrew Bloch, quoting Matt Neale [0:33:39]

Transcript

[0:00:03] Ben Smith: Welcome to the PRmoment podcast, produced in association with the Markettiers Network.

[0:00:16] Ben Smith: Welcome to our June review of PR pitches, mergers, and acquisitions in the UK PR scene with the good fellow that is Andrew Bloch. Today we're going to talk about the biggest pitch wins, mergers, and acquisitions that PR sector has seen in the last month for June. Andrew, if you didn't already know, is the lead consultant PR social content and influencer at the new business consultancy firm AAR and a partner at PCB Partners, where he advises on the buying and selling of marketing services agencies. He also runs the advisory firm that is a Andrew Block and Associates. Before we start, don't miss our next PR masterclass, AI and PR, all about the age of algorithms, predictive analytics, and AI risk. It's coming up now, so you do need to get a wriggle on, especially if did you listen to this podcast a bit after it's first published. The event is on Thursday, the second of July. Do take a look at the full programme and some of the finest past delegate testimonials you are ever likely to see. You can attend in person or via the live stream, and all delegates will get recordings of all 10 master classes. Andrew, welcome to the show. Hello, Ben. Andrew, give us your summary of the UK PR pitch scene in June 2026

[0:01:32] Andrew Bloch: I'm feeling very optimistic about the pitch market at the moment, so you know we're in June, we're coming up to that halfway point of the year. Agencies are reporting record months, you know. We're seeing strong pipelines, clients are starting to release healthy campaign budgets on top of retainers, and I think there's this collective sense that people are done deliberating, they're ready to get going, and business across all sectors feel like they just need to get on with things, you know, despite the backdrop of political uncertainty, economic uncertainty, that's not going to change anytime soon, but the mood appears to be noticeably more confident with the summer coming. Don't know whether it's World Cup fever, that's, but you know, all these kind of things are driving proper investment, especially in social consumer experiential and but the headwinds are real, you know. There's a war still going on in Iran, rising energy prices, slower sign-offs from clients,

[0:02:32] Ben Smith: and a war in Ukraine. Andrew, don't forget that

[0:02:35] Andrew Bloch: one. How could I? A war in Ukraine, but the agencies that can prove genuine commercial impact are winning, so you know half two of the year is here. Let's get on with it.

[0:02:49] Ben Smith: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when I speak to agencies, they are heads down and busy. There's lots and lots of pitching going on, which I don't know if it's an accurate barometer of the market. You could, we can have that discussion all day, but it's certainly busy out there. And Andrew, give us your rundown of the UK Manda scene currently. How is it? Is there lots of deals being done, or is it quiet as the summer approaches?

[0:03:14] Andrew Bloch: Man, a world at the moment

[0:03:17] Ben Smith: is super

[0:03:18] Andrew Bloch: busy. There is nobody sitting still, and there's been some significant deals that have happened this month, which we're going to come on to talk about, but there's some clear themes: the need for scale, need for specialism, social in very big demand at the moment, that's where the money is going. Holding companies still consolidating, you know, after the big Omnicom IPG deal, we're going to talk about that a bit. Big consultancies are buying their way into the creator economy, is something that we see, we're seeing a lot of, and there's been two big deals in that space this month. Independent still sort of merging, acquiring to create scale to broaden their offerings. There's still a bit of a trend towards businesses taking minority stakes and partnerships rather than full on acquisitions and buyouts. I think that's a risk thing. It's a lower risk way to bolt on new capabilities without necessarily having the cost and headaches of a full integration, but the fact is there are deals happening. There is movement, and it is buoyant for sure at the moment.

[0:04:19] Ben Smith: Great to hear. Right, Andrew, let's move on to our rundown. First of all, of the biggest PR pitch wins that you've seen in PR during June. News from Delphi, first of all, which is great to see.

[0:04:33] Andrew Bloch: Yeah, Gen Digital, the UK comms, Gen Digital, for those that aren't aware, they're the parent company of a load of cyber safety and financial wellness businesses, so Norton is the probably the most well-known, a vast or a vast lifelock money lion, big big business, you know. This is a four to $5 billion revenue business. Delphi, for those that aren't aware, is a. Relatively new company founded in 2023 by the former leaders from Harvard PR, so it's a significant win for an agency of that age and size. And then there was also a global part of this brief, which was won by Wild Signal, and actually, without getting too complicated, Wild Signal were the ones that won the global remit, bought on board Delphi to handle the UK elements of it, and Wild Signal for the agency nerds amongst you is again a new agency that was founded by Andy Pray, formerly of Pray Tell Communications. There's an 11 way pitch. I will reserve my comments on what I think about 11 way pitches, because

[0:05:46] Ben Smith: that is tough going four parties. 11 way pitches, but some interesting news from Tim Mann, Appellate Advisors, and Gladstone Place Partners, as well, with a win across. I imagine a win across the board.

[0:05:59] Andrew Bloch: Yeah, a win across the board from Alwin, who are the national lottery operators. So they pulled together this roster, Tin Man on a project basis, delivering consumer campaigns. This is all about raising awareness of the relaunch lotto game, which targets lapsed players, attracts new ones through a series of culturally relevant activations, working alongside VCP and supported by Studio 59 which is VCPS new in-house creative and content studio, and then Appellar Advisors and Gladstone Place Partners in London and New York, respectively, have teamed up, and they've taken over from Brunswick on the corporate comms and advisory side of things. So it's a big brief for them as well. So, as

[0:06:51] Ben Smith: congratulations for them for that, that sounds like a significant piece of work.

[0:06:55] Andrew Bloch: Yeah, it's significant. I mean, you know, look, it's a big, big business, the National Lottery, it doesn't really need explaining, but it's, it's, it's one stat I like, you know, I like my stats. It's created more than 8000 millionaires or multi millionaires since its inception in 1994 which I thought was a pretty cool stat.

[0:07:16] Ben Smith: Well, congratulations to Mandy Sharp and and James Acheson Grey, for that win, great way to start the show. News from Wonderland, as well, they've had another significant win,

[0:07:28] Andrew Bloch: they have, they've won Ocean Spray, both consumer and pan European, and this is across earned media, creator, social trade, all about raising brand awareness and consideration, and this is a really nice win for them. I think it's a great brand, it's got a whole load of products, which I wasn't aware of, actually above and beyond cranberry juice in terms of snacks and sauces, and so on. So I think this is right in Wonderland sweet spot. They're not an agency that we talk about that often on the show, but they do fantastic work. They've done brilliant work for Heinz, particularly in my opinion, but recently won Dr. Beckman's. They also work on Thatchers on Lint, so very, very good in the food and drink space, as well as sort of broader FMCG. So, yeah, nice win for Wonderland,

[0:08:20] Ben Smith: right? And Grant Thornton has a new agency.

[0:08:22] Andrew Bloch: Yep, a biggie for Red. They have won the corporate comms brief for Grant Thornton, who are leading accountant and professional services firm, and their brief is to raise market presence and challenge conventions across the UK professional services sector. So, I thought this was a really interesting one. It wouldn't necessarily have been one that I would have put Red's name to, but I have no doubt they'd do a very good job on it. There's a whole range of business advisory services that Grant Thornton offers, everything from sort of tax and auditing through to other, yeah,

[0:08:59] Ben Smith: they've quietly brought their client offer, and they read it. They need still a very, very good consumer firm, but they also do that. They moved their offer into corporate, and I guess this is therefore an interesting fit. And congratulations to all Danny Watmo et al. Another sort of role is speed, right?

[0:09:20] Andrew Bloch: Yeah, they do speed appear to be winning a lot recently, and they've just been appointed by Becco, who are the parent group of Hot Point, Whirlpool, Indicet, as well as Becca, obviously, and that's a consumer trade corporate brief press office, raising brand consideration, thought leadership, brand repositioning, yeah, the works. It's the first time that Becca have appointed one single agency to oversee all six of their brands, so a nice one for them. I wonder if it's Speed have done a really good job on Brabanture in recent years. I wonder if it's to do with that. Not sure, they're also working. With post office at the moment with Co-op, so yeah, as you said, they're on a good run. Long may it continue. Good luck to them.

[0:10:06] Ben Smith: That's quite a portfolio, that isn't it? And Eco Provancha Post Office and Co-op. Congratulations to them, and a win for a new agency, which is always great to see.

[0:10:16] Andrew Bloch: Exactly, we love a new agency, and we love a big win. So knock three times have won Westfield the Consumer Comms for their shopping centres, so for those that aren't aware, Knock Three Times is the agency that's founded by Kat Thomas, who was the former founder, co-founder of One Green Bean. The agency only launched, gonna say April, May, so it's early days, but it's it's backed by a group, so they, I think they've got off to a flying start, made some big hires. They're also working with Flight Centre and Butternut Box already as founding clients, so this is a, I mean, it's a great win for them. I don't know whether Kat had a previous relationship with them or not, but they're going to be providing services that will span from media through to press office campaign PR, as well as flagship openings. They've got three sites across the UK, and they're launching in St James's Quarter, as that's going to be their third branded destination later this year, so doesn't impact Headland, who continue to do the corporate and B2B side of things. There was a quote that the head of marketing from Westfield pulled out, which I thought was quite interesting, when he was talking about the appointment, and he said, "Knock three times offered something we hadn't seen elsewhere, a progressive proposition that puts creative storytelling and AI era visibility on equal footing, and I thought that was interesting, really. You know, lots of agencies are talking about geo, the importance of AI visibility. It's the first time I've seen a client quote that that's why they've appointed an agency, just shows how important geo is going to be as part of the sub softwareing of agencies, and I know agencies are sort of getting to grips with it at different speeds, different paces, so, but I just felt worth mentioning, as that was the reason why they've been appointed, so delighted for Cat. She's a class operator that's, you know, proven ability, and it looks like knock three times is off to a flyer. Yeah, she was on the show before the POM podcast before this one, talking about the impact of AI on PR jobs. So, if you want to hear a bit more from Cat Thomas, then do look up the previous episode and have a listen. At one time I had this sort of hypothesis that Innocent was everyone's favourite potential client, and they got a new agency. Yeah, I think that Innocent is a brand that so many agencies admire, both professionally and as consumers. I remember, when I was fortunate enough to work on Innocent many years ago, it was like a dream client for me, and I know that sentiment will be shared by lots of agency owners, but the lucky winner of their retained consumer press office is Shook. So this is a lovely win for Shook. It's an ongoing mix of reactive stuff, proactive stuff, news jacking consumer, that word we love to hate, Corp Schumer, all about engaging the media with their community of drinkers, sparking meaningful conversations around their products, their purpose, their profile. So, yeah, really nice addition to Shook's roster, they've got quite an enviable roster of food and FMCG clients, to be honest. Tony's Chocoloni is the one that stands out for me. They also look after gut stuff, field dunk, Doctor Onken, so you know, lots of experience to bring to the table. Yeah, I'm sure they'll be absolutely thrilled with that win.

[0:13:59] Ben Smith: Yeah, sounds like a good one, and more news from Tin Man.

[0:14:03] Andrew Bloch: More news from Tin Man, and we're sticking to a kind of loose dairy theme. They've won Yopplay, who are the manufacturer behind yoghurts like Petty Falou, Frug Yop, and again, it's quite broad-ranging brief. It's something we're seeing a lot of at the moment, but not just the earned PR side, but influencer in this case, doing quite a lot of the retail activations, education work around fortified dairy and children's diets, which I have to admit is not something I understand a great deal about, but probably should, and again, you know, Tim had a great roster in this broad area, doing work for Cadbury, Yeo Valley, Goo Grenade, Cheez-It, you know, so they're very, very strong in this space. So a nice win for Mandy Sharp and her crew of merry tin men,

[0:14:57] Ben Smith: great, and Newsome, Bulgeface, they've had a good week.

[0:15:00] Andrew Bloch: Yeah, yeah, lovely win for Bold Space. I think again, a client that many agencies would love to see on their roster, and that's Playmobil, handling the consumer PR for campaigns around a toy brand, which, as I'm sure you're aware, makes sort of play sets, figurines, if that's what you call them, figures, I'm not sure that kind of stuff all around promoting the cultural role of imaginative play, which I think is a lovely brief, and you know, pretty timely, given the debate that's going on around kids' screen time, social media, all of that kind of stuff. So, there's a strong job to be done to make families and modern families realise the value of that in a way that resonates, so you know it's a great brief for Bold Space. I'm looking

[0:15:49] Ben Smith: for

[0:15:49] Andrew Bloch: what they do,

[0:15:51] Ben Smith: and an enjoyable brief that's just become a very important brief, you'd say. And Smarts is has had some big wins over the last 18 months, 12 months, and they've had another.

[0:16:00] Andrew Bloch: They have Smarts, is another agency that I think it's fair to say are on a great run at the moment. They have won the Consumer PR for Costa Coffee, so I mean, great win for them. Largest dedicated coffee shop in the UK, actually now owned by Coca Cola, has been for a bit. So, this is Press Office, new products initiatives building on their brand platform made with heart, so good one for them doesn't impact analogue folk who handle the social media side of things, so yeah, this will sit alongside clients like Lego as the British Gas, so yeah, terrific win for smarts,

[0:16:38] Ben Smith: great stuff, which brings us to the end of our pitch wins segment of the show, and moving on to M and A. As you said, there's been some interesting deals this month, Andrew, but you're going to kick off with an interesting, well, a great acquisition by Accenture.

[0:16:56] Andrew Bloch: Yeah, I mean, there's been some big and significant deals this month, and I don't think it gets that much bigger than Accenture's acquisition of Whalar, so Whalar is going to become part of Accenture Song, which many listeners will know as the marketing arm of Accenture. Whalar is, I mean, it's fair to say one of the world's leading creator and influencer agencies, and for me, this deal signifies just how seriously the big consultancies are taking the creator economy. Just to give you a sense of scale, Whalar is about 170 full-time employees across the UK, America, Ireland, Germany, Spain, and I think what this does for Accenture Song, is it adds scaled creator and influencer capabilities to what they do, and connects their real-time insights, social comment, commerce, AI-driven discovery, all of that kind of stuff, and will help brands move beyond, I guess, one off activations into something that's far more strategic, far more integrated, and for Whalar, I mean, it's a tremendous deal and a brilliant opportunity to access Accenture's global firepower and their client base of, you know, some of the biggest names in the world. They didn't disclose the financial terms of this deal, but you can understand the logic behind it, you know. The creator economy, which is now the sort of trendy word for influencers, is expected to hit 40 odd billion dollars this year, and clearly Accenture wants a serious seat at the table. They're going to keep Whaler intact as a separate entity, certainly for the time being, and both sides are entering a three year strategic partnership, which is all about driving innovation in the economy, creator economy. So I think it's a deal that works for everyone. You know what, there are only a couple of creator agencies of scale that are now independent. Wayla were one of them. I would imagine Accenture paid very generously to get something of that scale. They would have been heavily in demand way there, so financially they'd have done very well out of it, but more importantly, I think it gives them an opportunity to really grow and become something that doesn't get much bigger than Accenture in terms of access to a global enterprise client base, so yeah, tremendous deal, and very interesting, because it just shows where the market is going.

[0:19:32] Ben Smith: Yeah, they've made a few acquisitions in the Accenture over the past five years or so, and this is obviously the latest. Now, another one that, yeah, it's intriguing when you see these sorts of cross vertical deals, if you like. Lad Bible have bought an agency, which is interesting as a media owner, buying it, buying an agency, but give us your insight into, yeah, I

[0:19:54] Andrew Bloch: mean, this is a great deal, and a really exciting deal. They bought Uncovered, who. I mean, they're probably the hottest social first creative agency at the moment, if not the hottest, certainly one of the hottest. I've had the opportunity to work very closely with them over the last couple of years and seen them in action. They look after people like KFC, Tesco's Right Movement, bitties. They've been bought by what is LGB Media, which is the owner of Lab Bible, who are they're going to buy a majority stake 75% of the business, 26 million, which makes the deal worth potentially up to about 34 million if they can hit their earn out, so you know financial performance this year and next year, and Lab Bible got the option to buy that remaining stake at 25% stake in the future. I think you know what what Lab Bible are trying to do is build the world's leading social entertainment business for young adults. It's gonna combine the creative side of uncovered with the scale of a lab bible, the insights of a lab bible, the cultural influence of a lab bible. It's going to reduce lab bible's reliance on what I would say is a sort of less predictable platform-driven indirect revenue, and it's going to increase that proportion of predictable, scalable revenue through direct partnership, so you know this is super interesting. I mean, the whole social sector is very, very hot at the moment. Last month, or a couple of months ago, published this bought Fabric, which again were right up there within that sort of sector of hot social agencies. We know that cooler already sold last year, but whether this is going to spark more of a trend in terms of publishers buying agencies, we have to see. I mean, it's not a new trend, as we talked about earlier, just before we pressed record, you know, as however many years ago, 1015, years ago the Economist bought TVC, and that was a deal, actually. It's probably fair to say didn't really work out that well, but it was a different era, I think. Yeah,

[0:22:14] Ben Smith: things changed, don't they? But is there a.. I mean, you'll get this more there. Is there.. what about other agencies who want to work with Lab Bible on stuff, is there a conflict there that anyone needs to worry about, or does all that stuff just.. there's so much, there's so much going on, it doesn't really matter.

[0:22:29] Andrew Bloch: I would imagine they'll keep them as separate entities, they keep the uncovered brand alive. Ultimately, you know, agencies need to work with Lab Bible, so that's not going to deter them, I don't think. What it will do is give uncovered, you know, a massive competitive advantage to go into a client and present a social plan where you've got access to, you know, millions of consumers on the inside track on what works and what doesn't work, and how, how to do it is a big, big competitive advantage for that.

[0:23:01] Ben Smith: Yeah, it's interesting to ponder it through a bit, isn't it? Because you could argue that what PR has seen content as a huge opportunity, but you could say that there is some evidence that actually publishers are buying that themselves now. Obviously, what I mean, they're trying to buy that intersection between content and brand, so that it's not - it comes under their remit to an extent, as opposed to farming out to various agencies of different types.

[0:23:31] Andrew Bloch: Now that's true. I mean, I think you've also got the fact that really content is becoming very much a commodity service, and without going too deep and too negative, AI is an enormous threat to any agency that is in the content space, and the agencies that will survive, and I'm shortcutting this hugely, and the agencies that have the strategic relationships, the creative relationships at the top table, so it's not enough just to be able to pump out content because soon, or I mean, now is that's a job that AI can do, you know, that the value comes in being able to cut through, being able to understand the data, being able to create something that has a higher value and is going to work better, I've simplified that, but you know, this is a play for the future, and that's this will not be the first deal you will see in this space of this nature,

[0:24:28] Ben Smith: no doubt, and use of a merger.

[0:24:31] Andrew Bloch: Yes, so going back to the world of PR, far on the hill of merge with fourth day, so these are two independent tech agencies that have combined to create an international agency with offices across London, New York, Paris, and not forgetting Manchester. So they're going to operate as far on the hill. It also includes Fourth Day's sister PR agency, which is a French agency called Quatrim. Excuse my accent. Thanks. My GCSE French was always going to prove useful at some point in my career. Who knew it'd be today?

[0:25:11] Ben Smith: What'd you get?

[0:25:13] Andrew Bloch: No one's going to be able to check. Can't remember. Let's say an A.

[0:25:17] Ben Smith: I got B. I don't think

[0:25:19] Andrew Bloch: I did get an A, I think I'm lying, but we'll go with that for the time being. 35 employees together, I mean it's pretty small, but what it's doing is bringing together the international comms and strategic advisory side of Far on the Hill with that purpose-driven storytelling sort of offer that Fourth Day are well known for. So it's just a play on scale, really. It makes sense. You're seeing a lot of agencies having these conversations at the moment. They realise that one plus one can potentially mean three, but they're hard to do these deals, and really they rely on the agencies knowing each other well from a cultural perspective, personal perspective, to know that they can get on on paper, it sounds very simple, and I speak to agencies all day long that say, can you find us someone of a similar size, so we can combine complementary skills and double in size overnight. In theory, yes. In reality, it's all in the nuance, and you know, I'm working on a few of these deals at the moment, and it really does come down to the founders being able to complement one another and work well with one another, pretty

[0:26:28] Ben Smith: head of one of those agencies that have grown quietly, they've grown more than I had had realised, they had a good couple of years, haven't they? Yeah,

[0:26:38] Andrew Bloch: they're very strong, they're really strong agents, I mean, they're relatively new, they're not even 10 years old, but they're good, they're good at what they do, and you know, I think now this combined agency offering will be able to deliver properly international work, and as I said, you know, this is a one plus one equals three, if they get it right, which hopefully they have

[0:27:00] Ben Smith: right, and news from Fleet Street, who've made an acquisition as well.

[0:27:04] Andrew Bloch: They have, they've acquired a minority stake in Cam Insight. So, for those that aren't aware, Fleet Street is a specialist in hospitality sector. Cam is a research and insights consultancy, also in that space, hospitality leisure. So they're going to remain independent for the time being, but they're going to pursue joint products, projects, sorry, collaborate on landmark partnerships and join forces where it makes sense. They've got a few mutual clients already, so I think this is, yeah, it's an interesting deal. There's obviously a large amount of synergy between these two companies. I'm not sure why Cam needed to sell a minority stake. Maybe it was from a strategic perspective of getting closer to Fleet Street, maybe they wanted to take a bit of cash off the table, maybe both. But I think, you know, ultimately it's a partnership that's going to deliver greater value for their clients and help them work closer together. I would imagine this is to use my own terminology, a sort of try before you buy type strategy, and at some point, assuming it all goes well, Fleet Street will have a purchase by the rest of the company, but we'll have to wait and see if my prediction is correct. A

[0:28:21] Ben Smith: really interesting acquisition from Bacchus.

[0:28:24] Andrew Bloch: Yes, they have been acquired by Mazarin Group. So, Bacchus is a luxury lifestyle agency. They focus primarily on hospitality, but they also sort of deep into culture. They've big sector in terms of real estate expertise, and then Mazarin are global, who are in a similar space, luxury, fashion, quite a big art space culture, and they oversee a network of agencies across Europe, America, some stuff in Asia Pacific, also Middle East, but I hadn't quite realised before this deal how sizable backers were, that you know they're approaching 10 million in fee income, 70 people in the UK, plus sizable operations in America, Middle East, with some great plants, Diageo, Four Seasons, Discovery, Victor and Albert Museum, London Design Festival, London Fashion Week, so and so forth. So nice deal for them, you know. It feels like a very obvious and good fit. So, yeah,

[0:29:32] Ben Smith: Menzies was the is co-founder of Backus, and she was on the podcast, I don't know, six eight months ago, and she was just talking about the story of that business over the years, and it is a, like, a lot of these agencies, it's a really interesting timeline since they found it, and I think where it's fair to say where they've got to in terms of the size of the business is is not something Anushka necessarily anticipated when she launched it, but it's and congrats. Relations to them, it is

[0:30:00] Andrew Bloch: their best in class, and they really highlight that focus of where specialist agencies do really, really well. They've got a niche, they've stuck to it, they're well known in that space

[0:30:14] Ben Smith: internationally as well. That's been utterly critical to their story, isn't it?

[0:30:17] Andrew Bloch: And they've been bought by someone who's in the same space that wants to add their expertise, so it's a lovely story, and yeah, it really does make it so obvious it doesn't even need explanation,

[0:30:30] Ben Smith: and I guess that well, the last one we're going to talk about today is the final stage, I guess, of the Golden Ketch and merger, and you spotted Andrew, they come up with quite a controversial name.

[0:30:44] Andrew Bloch: Oh, God, yes. I mean, that's so the Golan and Ketchum merger, which feels like we've been following it forever, have announced they will be called drum roll Golan Ketchum. Incredible, but makes sense, you know. These are. it's interesting, really. You know, it's probably fair to say Ketchum is the bigger.. well, it is. It is fair to say Ketchum is the bigger business, but Golan,

[0:31:11] Ben Smith: the UK, quite.. if you said that to people in the UK, having watched the two businesses over the last couple of years, that you would not have thought that, would you? But it's significantly bigger business prior to the merge, Ketchum. Yeah,

[0:31:22] Andrew Bloch: but Golin is the, you know, it's the brand that has the momentum. I mean, they're on a fantastic run, doing brilliant work, you know. They're in the running at Cam, probably by the time this podcast is edited and out there, they'll have won at Cam. They won last year. They're, they're doing great work. So, you know, the name makes sense. You can poke a bit of fun at it, because it's easy to do, but why would you lose two unbelievable brands? You know that, yeah, put them together, and I think you know when you read about their announcement of their new name, one of the quotes that I really liked that Matt Neil said was, you know, we want to, our ambition is to become the defining agency of the decade, and I love that, because it's a massive ambition. It's what I always set out to do in agency land, is I don't want to just have an agency, I want it to be the defining agency of its era, and I think, you know, look, this is a communications powerhouse now, and what's interesting is, you know, you have got one of the most scaled creative agencies on the market. What this means for clients, you know, don't know, don't know how many of them really care, but this obviously just as background sort of came around off the back of the Omnicom IPG acquisition, which was finalised at the end of last year, and brought together these companies. There's a whole load of leadership announcements that come with it, but Matt Neil's got the big job, you know, his, his, the global CEO of the combined agency, but also Tamara Norman, who's was the CEO in America of Ketchum, as she's gone into a global president role. So that's a great role for her. So, yeah, it's exciting. I think this is going to be this is one to watch for sure. What's interesting is how these two cultures and these two big, big agencies merge together, and it's yes, there will be efficiencies for sure, but there's also huge opportunities, I think, for for both of the firms to value off the specialisms that each holds.

[0:33:39] Ben Smith: Merges are always a game of momentum. There, you've got to, you've got to make it relatively quick. It's not going to be, not always going to be that much fun. But, as you say, the business looks in reasonable shape to come out the other side. But we should all watch with interest. I did tease Matt Neil about how much, how much - what was the consultancy fees that they spent on coming up with that new name, but you wouldn't tell me. I would

[0:34:02] Andrew Bloch: imagine there is a brand agency somewhere rubbing their hands with glee. I just hopefully they're part of the network, and they kept in the family. I doubt they'll have been using a WPP agency to come up with that brand.

[0:34:18] Ben Smith: Oh, the irony. Well, I suppose if you follow the ad agency model, you'd just use the first letter, wouldn't you? So it could have been GK, but I think I think Golden Ketchum is possibly better. Andrew, thank you so much for that rundown of the biggest pitch wins in June and the most interesting M and A deals that you've seen. Great to have you on the show, and see you soon.

[0:34:41] Andrew Bloch: Thanks, Ben. Pleasure as always.

[0:34:48] Ben Smith: Thanks for listening to the PR Moment podcast, produced in association with the Marketeers Network.

[0:34:58] Ben Smith: If you'd enjoyed the show, please do review us on. Tunes and give us a decent rating,

[0:35:01] Ben Smith: do.