Clemenger’s Alphabet Soup will merge with Raydar, starting January 2010.
The merged entity will retain the Raydar name and will be led by its managing director, Darryl McClay, who will have a minority shareholding in the company. The agency will be located at Alphabet Soup’s current Grafton premises.
Clemenger Group New Zealand CEO, Jim Moser says while both agencies are leaders in the small to mid-sized below-the-line/retail space, bringing them together will make them stronger.
“We believe the merged entity will provide a highly attractive offer. Both Raydar and Alphabet Soup have highly complementary skills.”
And the opportunity to merge the two companies was irresistible for McClay.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the Alphabet Soup clients as soon as possible and to successfully bringing together two talented, focused and committed teams to help our clients in what is still a very tough sales environment,” he says.
Established 15 years ago, Raydar has carved a strong reputation in the FMCG sector with a focus on leveraging brands in-store to deliver greater sales. Its growing expertise around sales promotion complements the retail offer.
Alphabet Soup was launched almost 20 years ago and has a particular strength around collateral and below the line/retail communication, including POS.
Joining McClay on the management team will be Raydar’s creative director Martin Sawbridge and operations director, Aynsley Scott from Alphabet Soup.
Major clients from Raydar will include Frucor Beverages (a Raydar client for 15 years), Kellogg’s, plus recent wins Fosters NZ and ABE’S Real Bagels. Alphabet Soup brings across Restaurant Brands New Zealand’s KFC and Pizza Hut brands (an Alphabet Soup client for more than 12 years), Heinz Wattie’s, Appliance Connexion (100% and Appliance Spot brands) and The Laminex Group.
