Stagwell bolsters CPB, merging it with MMI, Vitro and Observatory

CPB is merging with three other Stagwell agencies, integrating a suite of specialties under one roof. MMI, Vitro and Observatory will join CPB, becoming one agency under the CPB banner and the leadership of Global CEO Brad Simms, who took on the role in October. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs The other agency CEOs will take on C-suite roles at CPB. Former MMI CEO Maggie Malek has been appointed president of North America, reporting to Simms. Former Vitro CEO Tom Sullivan will become chief growth officer of North America, and former Observatory CEO Brendan Shields-Shimizu will become chief innovation officer. Josh Braithwaite, who joined CPB in 2022, will continue as chief creative officer. Merging the agencies brings their disparate specialties and combined 300-plus employees under one roof, according to Simms. Observatory specializes in creative brand entertainment, and Vitro is a creative and production agency. MMI brings influencer, creator and media performance capabilities, which have been fine-tuned since the agency absorbed former Stagwell agency Media Kitchen in 2022. Read more: Mark Penn on building Stagwell “There is a model out there that modern CEOs and CMOs are looking to work with less agencies and have them do more,” Simms said. “Bringing all these capabilities under Crispin means that Crispin can just service more of our clients' business to get in front of this trend in the marketplace.” The merger was prompted by Simms, Sullivan, Shields-Shimizu and Malek, who had been working together over the last six months as their agency teams collaborated on clients including NRG, Wells Enterprises and Holiday Inn Vacation Clubs. Simms called the decision a “grassroots effort.” Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here “We just started to have some conversations and ask, ‘Would we be better together?’ to build a modern, integrated creative-led agency that, frankly, the market is pulling us to do,” Simms said. “Together we can win more and have bigger impact.” All MMI, Vitro and Observatory clients will become CPB clients under the merger. The merger is the latest attempt at bolstering CPB after several years of lost clients, including Hotels.com, Fruit of the Loom and American Airlines, and high executive turnover. Marianne Malina joined the agency as global CEO in April 2021 and left for 72andSunny in September 2022. Jorge Calleja was appointed chief creative officer at the start of 2021 and stayed less than a year before becoming chief creative officer at Meta. But this newest agency change is more than a logo or c-suite change, said Malek. It's a strategic business shift. "We’re thinking about going back to the beginning of Crispin and what they did best," Malek said. "When they were at the best they blurred the lines between creative and media and put earned at the core of everything so it’s not about a Crispin logo or a new leader, this is about putting the right offerings together to meet the modern marketer." Simms is optimistic about the future and believes the combined entity's strategic and creative chops will draw in new clients. “We doubled down on strategy and creativity at the core of Crispin and cleaned up our offerings and leaned into that as something that Crispin traditionally has been known for,” Simms said. “We really tried to lean into the good parts of that history, but put a modern twist on it, and the market’s been receptive to that.” In the last year, CPB has added Nasonex and Old Dominion Freight as AOR assignments and done project work for Dropbox, Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Plackers and Wells Enterprises, which owns Halo Top and Blue Bunny. More than half of the agency’s client work are multi-year deals. Simms said he doesn’t see other Stagwell mergers on the horizon. “Our approach has been to react to the market as opposed to bringing mergers from a holding company lens,” he said. “We feel really good about this agency, its composition, its positioning in the marketplace … so we don’t have any other agencies we’re looking to bring into the mix at this time.”

Stagwell bolsters CPB, merging it with MMI, Vitro and Observatory

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