As the third UK-based agency acquired by the Dutch platform in the past six months, Candid Group is delivering on its global ambition.
International marketing and communications platform, Candid has acquired independent UK advertising agency, Creature, for an undisclosed sum. The move bolsters its cross-border presence and builds on its creative capacity.
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Candid Group's Founder and Board President ??Gérard Ghazarian alongside Creature's worldwide CEO, Dan Cullen-Shute, CCO and founders Ben Middleton and Stu Outhwaite-Noel and Candid Group's CEO Rudiger Wanck. (Photo: Business Wire)
Creature, whose clients include Moonpig, Dunelm, Clearscore, Atom Bank and eve Sleep, will be the network's lead creative agency, and is the third UK agency to be acquired by the Dutch platform in the last six months, after Brand Potential and digital agency, Positive.
As part of the acquisition deal, Dutch advertising outfit XXS will rebrand as Creature Amsterdam, establishing Creature as a growing global agency. Alongside his current role as CEO of Creature London, Dan Cullen-Shute will become Worldwide CEO overseeing both offices with XXS's Founder and Director Piet Hein Smit and MD Sanne Tolsma continuing in their roles at Creature Amsterdam.
Creature will operate as an autonomous agency within the group. "We're not interested in creating the silos of old," says Candid Group's CEO Rudiger Wanck. "Our goal is to empower strong individual specialist agencies like Creature and enable them to scale and collaborate without the distraction of the layers within a traditional holding company. Acquiring Creature London and adding Creature Amsterdam through XXS marks the starting point to further amplify our creative capacity and bolster the platform as a whole on a global level."
On their global growth ambitions, Candid Group's Founder and Board President ??Gérard Ghazarian adds "the UK market interests us as it's a strong player at an international level. As we continue to expand and build the platform, we will continue to grow on European soil whilst also exploring opportunities across the Atlantic."
Dan Cullen-Shute, who founded Creature in 2011 with Ben Middleton and Stu Outhwaite-Noel, adds, "We've been doing this for a long time now, and while we've definitely made a few mistakes along the way, we've ultimately become very, very good at knowing what's right: the opportunity to take Creature to new worlds, supported by a platform in Candid that values our independence of thought, action and approach as much as we do is incredibly exciting. Add into that the fact that we get to welcome an agency of the stature and reputation of XXS into the Creature family, and you've got an opportunity far too good to turn down. It's time to show the world what Creature can do."
About Candid: www.candidplatform.com
We are Candid. We are a marketing and communications platform organisation headquartered in London and Amsterdam. Through our platform strategy and candid values, we are the first player that truly breaks down the silos in our industry. As a platform we empower strong individual specialist agencies, enabling them to scale, collaborate and focus on their clients and their brands. Our T-shaped organisation, enabled by technology, empowers us to adapt quickly, embrace creative thinking and work together seamlessly, creating sustainable growth for our clients, growth for our agencies and growth for our people. We unite the creative and strategic strengths of media agencies Stroom, de Media Maatschap, and M2Media, digital agencies Online Company and Havana Harbor, social media expert Daily Dialogues, advertising agency XXS, PR and corporate communications agency Coopr, marketing innovation agency Cogonez, brand identity specialist Millford and the London-based brand consultancy Brand Potential.
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