Mckenzie Clark Joins Chime Communications
McKenzie Clark has been acquired by Chime Communications PLC, and will become part of their sports marketing division working in conjunction with event branding and production specialist Icon.
The acquisition follows 12 months of Icon and McKenzie Clark collaborating on a UK sporting event underpinning the extensive synergies between the two businesses.
McKenzie Clark works with global brands in retail, sports and events. Despite the economic climate McKenzie Clark has grown its business in 2011 achieving sales of £7.65m, an increase of 12% on the previous year.
Chime is formed of four divisions, 60 agencies and over 1,600 people, with offices in the UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, USA, Brazil, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
Graham Clark, McKenzie Clark MD: ‘Becoming a part of Chime Sports Marketing is extremely exciting and progressive for the business. CSM is a leading International Sports Marketing group with a growing number of complementary businesses including Icon.’
‘Partnering with Icon and sharing skills and experience has already resulted in a major pro- ject win and their proven expertise in delivering major event and corporate branding pro- grammes worldwide provides the perfect complement to our skills in artwork, colour and quality management and large format production, and will certainly position us as the lead- ing branding and graphics business within the UK.’
‘The geographical network of CSM will also assist McKenzie Clark in providing the best service for its global customers.’
‘Additionally the backing of a PLC of Chime’s stature will give McKenzie Clark additional financial stability and the opportunity to progress our plans for investment into improved technology and resources, resulting in greater capacity and diversity.’
John Francis, Icon’s MD, added: ‘Having worked closely with McKenzie Clark over the last 12 months we have seen the benefits of combining our skill sets. We have created ground breaking systems and pro- cesses that provide customers with outstanding project management from budget control, speed of delivery, quality assurance, brand consistency and guardianship and quality of delivery capable of providing the very best solution for their total branding requirements.’
‘Furthermore, economies of scale and a focus on achieving the most sustainable solution achieve environmentally friendly products at the best value.’
Chime is the holding company for the international public relations group, Bell Pottinger; an advertising and marketing services groups, which includes VCCP and Teamspirit; a global sports marketing group, which includes Fast Track and Essentially; and a market leading research and engagement group, which includes Opinion Leader Research and Facts International.
