With a stated goal of reinventing its network in the United States, South Korean agency Cheil Worldwide announced Tuesday that it has acquired the U.S. independent McKinney.
Established in 1969, Durham, N.C.-based McKinney was formerly owned by the French holding company Havas, but has been an independent since its management team bought it back for an undisclosed sum in 2008.
McKinney now becomes part of Cheil Americas, a regional network of agency partners comprised of Cheil USA, Cheil Canada, Cheil Mexico, Cheil Central America, Cheil Brazil and The Barbarian Group. Cheil Americas CEO Buz Sawyer said in a statement that the deal will provide McKinney with “rocket fuel” to take its business to the next level.
Cheil, which started as the in-house shop for electronics manufacturer Samsung, has operated in the U.S. for two decades, but had failed to gain significant traction in the world’s biggest ad market.
But Cheil Canada president Matt Cammaert said the deal – valued at US$50 million in media reports – signals the agency’s commitment to pursuing new business both globally and, more specifically, in the U.S. market.
McKinney, which was recently named the world’s most effective independent advertising agency by Effie Worldwide, will maintain its name and its North Carolina headquarters. Its client roster includes Nationwide, GNC and Sherwin Williams.
Cammaert said in addition to creative collaboration between Cheil Canada and McKinney, the agencies would also to pitch for both North American and even global business.
Cheil Canada also hopes to take advantage of McKinney’s expertise in the shopper marketing space, said Cammaert. “That would be my number one point of leverage,” he told Marketing. “I’ve been pursuing shopper marketing expertise either through individuals or opportunities with our current clients, and this will allow us to amplify that.
“We’ll be taking learning and best practices from McKinney pretty much right away and rounding the organization around that.”
Cammaert said he would like to add shopper marketing practitioners to Cheil Canada’s staff in the near to mid-term. His goal, he said, is to add a strategic lead within the next few months, followed by two or three support staff in mid to late 2013.
Cheil has grown its Canadian business 150% in the past eight months said Cammaert, bringing aboard two new clients including a newly created alliance of law firms and an undisclosed financial services company. “Within the network we’re one of the leaders in terms of what we’ve accomplished in that period of time,” he said.
Earlier this month, the agency unveiled a new integrated campaign for the Personal Injury Alliance (PIA), a new strategic partnership between three of the country’s leading personal injury law firms in McCleish Orlando, Thomson Rogers and Oatley, Vigmond.
The campaign’s objective is to educate consumers about personal injury law and eliminate some of the stereotypes associated with personal injury lawyers, said Cammaert. In addition to print, radio and digital creative assets, Cheil also developed the PIA’s brand identity and strategy.
