VCCP has announced the acquisition of independent media agency Adconnection. The business will be fully merged with VCCP’s existing media operation, VCCP Media, creating a combined media capability with billings in excess of £50 million. The staff base will be around 70 and clients will include ASOS, Bonhams, Maplin, Jessops, Relish Broadband, Sofa.com, Vue Cinemas and MTV. The deal is notable because VCCP Media and Adconnection are among a small breed of independent media agencies in a sector dominated by global giants backed by WPP and Omnicom.
Paul Mead will be the Chairman of VCCP Media with Catherine Becker, current CEO of Adconnection becoming CEO. Mead claimed the move is indicative of an industry leading trend, with the return of full service by offering creative and media under one roof (see the Havas Media Village concept). Financial terms were not disclosed but VCCP Media is thought to have paid about £10 million for Adconnection, which opened in 2001. Declan Reddington, the founder of Adconnection, is exiting the business, of which he controlled about 75%.
VCCP has announced the acquisition of independent media agency, Adconnection
The deal signifies the intent of VCCP to lead the emerging trend of connected, full service agencies in the post-digital age, bringing market leading creative, media and data offerings together under one roof. Founded in 2002, VCCP is currently ranked amongst the top 6 agencies in the UK, with 750 staff spanning across 5 offices, and billings in excess of £220m. Adrian Coleman, one of the founders and group CEO of VCCP, describes the move as a “Reintegration,” whilst others refer to it as the return of “Full service,” but the intention is obviously to create a top 20 UK media agency. VCCP wants to reunite media buying with creative and all other disciplines, such as public relations, content creation and sports marketing, under one roof. Coleman believes they have “Grown a very successful media business organically at VCCP,” but that this deal will give them real scale and “The ability to offer clients genuine full service communications under one roof.”
Paul Mead, the founder of VCCP Media, said: “The world of media and advertising is under-going a fundamental revolution but agency structures have not kept pace. We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of clients who want to break down the silos between media and creative and explore how they can structure their agency relationships in more innovative ways.” Catherine Becker, CEO of Adconnection, added: “Our two businesses have very complementary skillsets and a fabulous client base. We share core values around performance and innovation and I’m incredibly excited about the potential to deliver outstanding results for our clients”
The business will be fully merged with VCCP’s existing media operation, VCCP Media
The acquisition comes just 4 weeks after VCCP’s parent company Chime Communications was acquired and taken private by the US based, Providence Equity Partners. Adconnection is an independent media agency founded in 2001 by Declan Reddington who will leave the business and jointly owned by Catherine Becker. The acquisition was made under advisement from Lewis Silkin, marking the law firm’s first corporate transaction with VCCP. Adconnection’s 42 staff will move into VCCP’s headquarters in Victoria alongside the existing 20-strong media unit and, crucially, they will be in the same building as all the other VCCP teams. One big happy family!
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK.
