Smaller ad agencies use mergers to grow more quickly - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Another such deal is likely in the next 12 to 24 Chairman PasqualeTrozzolo said. Similarly, Ethan Whitehill, CEO of Two West said his company may look at anotherracquisition -- it combined with a Los Angeles utfi earlier this year -- as part of its growtjh plan. Even won’t discount the possibility of an acquisitiobn as it moves toward its next generation of leadershi inthe company’s 30th year. “Never say never,” said Juliwe Robinson, senior vice president and COO ofKuhn & Wittenborn.
Leader s in the local marketing and advertisingg community said industry forces have led companiess to consider acquisitions as a way to build Dan Barker, president of the and directofr of business development for , said acquisitionsx in Kansas City mostlg involve smaller agencies looking to quickly add serviceas and competencies. “I think that’s a lot of it because you’re not seeing the Barkleys andthe Bernstein-Reinds going out and merging,” he said.
“But the smalle shops in town are definitelyy looking to gainsome -- I wouldn’t say credibility -- but gain more leveragde when it comes to expanding their services, and that’as probably the best way to do The Kansas City Ad Club’ss current membership is at about 650. That’s not the highest it’sa ever been, Barker said, but is a “ver solid” number given the market’s size. Trozzolol said that another change drivingb combinations is that larger clients increasingly are looking for one companyu to handle a variety ofneeds -- branding, publixc relations, advertising.
Whitehill said Two West’s purchases of Los Angeles-based in April was triggeresd by a need to expand beyond the Kansa sCity market. “We had made the consciou decision -- actually it was the winter of ‘0 7 -- that in the next 10 to 15 yearsa we wanted to build our agency into a global and one way to do that wasdiversify geographically,” Whitehilol said. “The reality was when we expanded our thinkingb beyondour region, it put us in a new mode of It was a package deal that doing business in Los Angeles meansa you’re going to be doiny business in New York.
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