Independent full-service agency KWP has acquired Northern Territory design and branding studio Boab to further increase its offering in Australia's top end and Asia.
The acquisition will see Boab's team join the KWP national agency, servicing clients from the Darwin office.
KWP group managing director David O'Louglin says the deal demonstrates the agency's "long-term commitment and investment" in the Northern Territory.
"We love the NT and have moved to partner with the best creative minds in the region to strengthen our full-service offering and establish an innovative design hub to service national clients from the Darwin office,” O'Loughlin says.
“At KWP, we are in the business of working with great Australian brands and connecting them with people everywhere, and this will allow us to do that on a greater scale with the introduction of the new design hub.”
As part of the acquisition, KWP Darwin will welcome BOAB’s Brett Jacobs, Mike Frier and Amber Young who will join KWP Darwin’s Kaia Wright and Tristan Glover.
BOAB founder Brett Jacobs says the partnership was the right fit for both parties and would see the teams come together to form the new KWP Darwin.
"The journey of building a Darwin-based creative agency over the past decade has been exhilarating and a real privilege," Jacobs says.
"And now we are ready for the next chapter, joining forces to create KWP Darwin, and sharing our unified values of innovation, energy, creativity, and putting the client at the centre of everything we do. KWP has an innovative national reputation and we are excited to bring together our brands to create an unrivalled Darwin-based agency."
The new team will move into a new office space in Darwin later this year and look to further expand the team.
The announcement comes off the back of the South Australian-founded agency opening up an office in Darwin in 2017 and 20% year-on-year growth in the past three years.
KWP, which was founded in 1991, employs 62 staff at offices in Adelaide and Darwin.
Last year, the agency secured the Tourism NT account following the controversial loss of the Tourism SA account which it had created the 'Barossa. Be Consumed' ad for in 2014 that was dubbed the world's best film ad at the time.
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