MSQ buys January Digital to give its US business a media engine
MSQ has spent the past couple of years building a US creative and technology business. Now it has bought the missing piece: media.
The London-based group has acquired January Digital, a media agency with offices in New York and Dallas. Terms were not disclosed. Adweek describes the deal as the final step in MSQ's big US expansion plan.
Who is January Digital?
Vic Drabicky founded January Digital in 2011 and still runs it as CEO. The agency focuses on retail, beauty, CPG and grocery, and MediaPost reports its clients include Steve Madden, Interstate Batteries, Supergoop! and Amika.
It keeps its name, and Drabicky and his leadership team, including president Sarah Engel, stay in charge. The agency will work with MSQ's North America president Aaron Lang and the wider MSQ Media team, and gets access to the group's technology and creative capabilities.
Why MSQ wanted it
MSQ has around 2,000 people in 25 offices, owns agencies including Big Spaceship, Elmwood, 26PMX and Forge, and counts Diageo, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Chase and Mars among its clients. In the US it had already bought Big Spaceship in New York and Atlanta's Arke, since rebranded MSQ DX.
What it lacked was scale in US media. Adweek described its previous American media footprint as sub-scale. Lang told Adweek the deal gives MSQ a "stronger media offering to compete with the large holding companies." Group CEO Peter Reid said January Digital "brings significant additional media capabilities to our US clients and agencies," as reported by MediaPost.
Why it matters
This is how PE-backed groups take on the holdcos: assemble creative, tech and media in one market through targeted buys, then sell the whole stack. For a specialist media agency with a clear sector focus and a stable leadership team, that makes it a valuable final piece of someone else's puzzle.
Could your agency be the missing piece for a group like this? Find out at Agencies.co.