Publicis Communications has bought The Herd Group, which owns PR agencies N2N and Fuel, for an undisclosed sum.
It's the first time the group will have a major public relations function in Australia and New Zealand.
It will expand the group's public relations capabilities in strategy, corporate affairs, earned media, stakeholder relations, integrated campaigns, issues and crisis management, social media and content marketing.
As part of the acquisition it is renaming The Herd Group as 'Herd MSL', bringing Publicis Groupe's existing public relations brand MSL to Australia for the first time. MSL currently employs around 3500 people globally across 100 offices.
The move sees the agency compete against a raft of PR shops such as WPP's Ogilvy Public Relations; Havas' Red Agency; M&C Saatchi's Hidden Characters and many more.
The Herd Agency consists of 55 people across Fuel, N2N and Touch Communications. Its founder, Jamie Verco; CEO, Vanessa Liell; along with agency heads Katarina Farrell, Stuart Wragg and Lewis Shields will lead the new bsuiness.
Michael Rebelo, CEO of Publicis Communications ANZ, says: “The acquisition of The Herd Agency enables us to offer fully integrated public relations services to our clients for the first time. It couldn’t be timelier to expand our capabilities and award-winning talent base in ANZ. We’re optimistic about the new possibilities and opportunities this will bring to our respective clients.”
Verco adds: “This is an incredibly exciting time for our agency and our industry. As part of Publicis Communications, we have an outstanding opportunity to combine our strength in public relations and communications with one of the world’s global creative leaders. Our growth has been driven by our capacity to respond to the changing needs of the market with creativity and agility. What excites us most is our cultural fit and shared vision to deliver world-class integrated campaigns for diverse and ambitious brands.”
Publicis Communications is the arm of Publicis Groupe that houses its creative and marketing communications division, including creative agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Marcel.
The move follows a restructure at Publicis, which saw Saatchi & Saatchi Australia CEO Michael Rebelo step up to CEO of the Publicis Communications Group in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Leo Burnett Melbourne boss Melinda Geertz and Publicis Worldwide Australia boss Andrew Baxter promoted.
The new direction of Publicis was recently revealed in a video from its new global CEO, Arthur Sadoun, who also said at Cannes Lions that the group is pulling out from all award ceremonies to invest in an artificial intelligence platform.
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