Independent HERO has rolled Melbourne-based creative agency Magnum Opus Partners into its full-service offering.
Commecial details of the deal haven't been released. However, HERO is looking for further acquisition opportunities.
Magnum Opus founder Mike Allen, and partners CEO Erin Lightfoot and creative director Pat Langton, will join the HERO leadership team and their staff will fold into HERO's Melbourne team.
"We're rapt to welcome Mike, Erin and their brilliant clients and team to HERO," says HERO founder Ben Lilley.
"Not only are they an awesome bunch of people, their deep expertise in property and government communications in particular is a superb complement to HERO's national offering of bestin-class services across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane."
Magnum Opus founder Mike Allen: "I couldn't be more proud of what Magnum Opus has achieved over the past 30 years, as an independent leader in the Australian marketing landscape.
"I've known Ben for 20 of those years and am immensely impressed with what he and his team have achieved over the past 2 years. HERO’s full suite of integrated services is unmatched in the independent agency sector and is custom made for future-thinking clients and businesses.
"This will now be key to the ongoing delivery of our own 'Results. Nothing Less' philosophy which has stood us in such good stead for so long."
Magnum Opus CEO Erin Lightfoot: “I'm excited by the immense opportunities we can now offer our clients and team alike at HERO. Our business has steadily built a reputation for strategically driven creativity and support for our clients.
"Now we can also offer an impressive range of additional marketleading Australian and global integrated services."
HERO is the first Australian independent to integrate what Lilley describes as the 'holy trinity' of creativity, media and technology at scale, which also includes PR and brand innovation services.
"The unique benefits of our national offering, integrated under our philosophy of Borderless Creativity, have been embraced over the past 12 months by flagship clients like Toyota, Topo Chico, Maybelline and v2food. And have seen HERO rank in the top agencies at the Australian and APAC Effies.
"We're excited to be able to now extend these services to Magnum Opus’ client roster, a number of whom we have already begun to work with our media and technology teams."
The integration of Magnum Opus Partners builds on a rapid 18 months of growth for HERO, starting in 2020 with Lilley’s acquisition of McCann Australia, which now operates under license for the global McCann Worldgroup.
The McCann deal included The Red Republic and SMART and was followed by the acquisition of content and production businesses Red Engine SCC and The Engine Room, digital and design specialist JSA Brisbane and award-winning data and technology developer BBE.
HERO's full service media offering was enhanced with the arrival of industry veteran James Greet, who was appointed chief operating officer in 2021.
Lilley says he intends to continue to maximise HERO’s national creative scope and scale by integrating more businesses in creative, data, design, media, technology and PR across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
HERO will continue to pursue both organic and acquisitive growth opportunities as part of this strategy to take an entrepreneurial approach to building the national HERO business and its capabilities for the benefit of its national clients.
Lilley: “Our strategy is to scale our national suite of best-in-class solutions to best address each clients’ specific suite of marketing and communications needs.”
He says the ongoing acquisition strategy offers independent Australian agency owners a unique chance to become part of HERO's rapidly growing national business, as well as international network opportunities through its global affiliation with McCann and IPG, while still remaining senior leaders in an entrepreneurial national Australian independent.
Lilley described this as a rare window for independent agencies looking to sell and achieve “the best of both worlds: combining multinational clients, career opportunities and resources, but with a creative independent agency culture and mindset.”
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