London-based VCCP signed a “don’t call it M&A” deal with San Francisco’s MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER in order for the two agencies to form an international creative partnership, Adweek reports.
The newly formed network will include VCCP’s London, Berlin, Madrid, Sydney and Prague offices and MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER’s San Francisco headquarters, with plans for MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER to open a New York office in the coming months. In the long term, the agencies hope to collectively expand to expand to markets in South America and Asia.
While VCCP has been looking for a creative partner on this side of the Atlantic for some time, MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER has dismissed offers from holding companies to form such partnerships in the past.
“We never gave it much thought. It wasn’t something we needed or were looking for,” MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER executive creative director John Matejczyk told Adweek.
But VCCP, he said, is “ambitious in the same way that we are. They’re trying to help clients, look for business opportunities, and look for creative ways to figure out solutions. We thought we could go further together. It feels like the start of something cool.”
“We wanted to find a partner in the U.S. who had the same focus on creative work, the same challenger mentality. We spent two years looking for that agency, and when I met these guys, I thought, I wasted two years of my life,” said VCCP CEO Adrian Coleman. “It’s the coming together of two agencies that can help grow each other.”
“From a client perspective, on a global level, it’s giving the market an alternative from typical holding companies,” he added.
None of the details regarding the financial structure of this deal have been made public, so feel free to be confused.