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An appetite for indies: Mediacom chows down on media360

Indie media agencies taste good, particularly if you’re media giant Mediacom, which has acquired the New Zealand branch of independent media agency media360—the largest independent media agency in the country.

The purchase means media360’s impressive list of clients, including Unitec and Paper Plus, will be brought into the fold with Mediacom’s New Zealand client list, which includes Avanti, Shell, Louis Vuitton and Pizza Hut.

According to Mediacom New Zealand’s general manager Nigel Douglas, the acquisition has bolstered Mediacom’s New Zealand client list to around 90 clients, with 20 of these coming from the media360 group.

He describes the Mediacom network as delivering access to “a global powerhouse of resource”. And he’s not exaggerating either. Globally, Mediacom has 120 offices in 90 countries. It is owned by owned by WPP which is publicly listed and the world’s largest communications group.

And while the shedding of jobs often comes with the merger territory, Douglas says there’s been no shedding of staff with all members of media360 moving over to Mediacom’s offices in Auckland. In fact he says the media360 staff moved into the Mediacom offices about two weeks ago, prior to any official announcement of the acquisition. Not that there was an intentional move to keep the acquisition on the down low.

According to Douglas the plan was to wait for media to approach once the whisperings got loud enough.

“We didn’t keep the news intentionally quiet but we have been encouraging the rumour mill.”

In the short term he says the company will be operating under both the media360 and Mediacom brands, while it sorts out the “more complicated” sides of the business.

Meanwhile media360 New Zealand general manager John Buckley has taken up the role of general manager of digital at Mediacom.

Dale Spencer, the chief executive and sole director of media360 in Australia and New Zealand, set up the company back in 2003. Although he’s sold the New Zealand branch of the business, he’s keeping the Australian side where he will remain as chief executive.

“The media business is evolving swiftly across the world and the opportunity for media360 New Zealand to join forces with a globally recognised brand such as Mediacom will not only benefit our loyal clients, but also provide all-important new experience for the team,” Spencer said in a release.

 

 

 

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