Stagwell acquires Movers+Shakers

Movers+Shakers, the creative social agency known for its viral work, has been acquired by Stagwell. Founded in 2016 by partners Evan Horowitz, who is now CEO, and Geoffrey Goldberg, who is chief creative officer, Movers+Shakers will join Stagwell’s Constellation network of agencies, which also includes 72andSunny, Instrument and The Harris Poll. Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards Final deadline approaching for annual program Enter here The acquisition was announced Thursday as Stagwell reported third-quarter results, including a 7% decline in revenue, the steepest of its three quarterly revenue declines this year. Stagwell now expects its organic net revenue to fall about 4% this year, after cutting its 2023 revenue forecast in August to a range of flat to down 2.5%. “Considering all the events that occurred with the auto and entertainment strikes and tech pullbacks, I think it will be a good finish for us,” Mark Penn, Stagwell’s chairman and CEO, said. “We’re turning the corner on the digital transformation front, and I think we’ve already turned the corner on research, media and general creative.” Stagwell announced it is paying about $15 million for Movers+Shakers, to be paid in cash or up to 30% in shares of stock. Also, the previous owners “are entitled to contingent consideration up to a maximum value of $35 million, subject to meeting certain future earnings targets,” Stagwell stated. Stagwell has complete ownership of the agency, but the Movers+Shakers name and brand identity will remain, along with Horowitz and Goldberg at the helm. Madison Alley Global Ventures served as the exclusive strategic M&A advisor to Movers+Shakers. Movers+Shakers has made a name for itself with viral TikTok campaigns, including the crossover of Chipotle and e.l.f. cosmetics that featured stars from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and using TikTok dupe culture to boost awareness of haircare brand Olaplex. Justin Lewis, chair of Constellation, said he sees the acquisition as a chance to bring that experience to Stagwell. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here “With their fluency of platforms, the team at Movers+Shakers has proven itself to be the foremost authority when it comes to helping brands create cultural relevance with Gen Z and millennials,” Lewis said. “Their penchant for innovation goes hand in hand with our challenger mindset, and will be a boon for those clients eager to create influence and awareness among today’s social-first consumers.” More news: TikTok trends that brands can follow Joining Stagwell was a major step in pushing Movers+Shakers to grow the agency on a larger scale, specifically breaking out of the TikTok-specific creative niche, said Horowitz. While Horowitz admits the industry had a tough first half of 2023, Movers+Shakers recovered well, securing 21 new client wins, including Tinder and Elemis, and securing full social, culture and creative agency of record work. Clients are already asking the agency to help strategize their media, experiential and traditional media plans, and Stagwell would help do that, according to Horowitz. “Rather than build it all organically, we wanted to find a team of agencies and specialists that we could bring to our clients to build those deeper programs and have a bigger impact on the brand transformation that we’re having with our clients,” Horowitz said. Stagwell’s fondness for supporting independent, entrepreneurially run agencies was another reason for the move. “We absolutely love Movers+Shakers and the secret sauce that we’ve built, and we would never want to mess with that,” Horowitz said. “We chose Stagwell partly because they also would never want to mess with that.” Stagwell’s acquisition of Movers+Shakers is the latest in its buying spree this year. In October, Stagwell acquired AI solutions firm Left Field Labs, and earlier in the year Tinsel Experiential Design and In the Company of Huskies joined its stable of brands.

Stagwell acquires Movers+Shakers

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