Placing digital firmly at the core of its San Francisco office, Euro RSCG has acquired full-service interactive agency Kadium to bolster its digital offerings and ramp up revenue from approximately $40 million to between $60 million and $70 million.
According to Alan Burgis, CEO of Euro’s San Francisco outpost, the acquisition reflects not only the agency’s San Francisco strategy, but also Euro RSCG Worldwide’s global approach. He expects the acquisition to create a fully integrated offering and give the office a leg up in online and mobile marketing, digital media and site development.
While the San Francisco office previously doled out some digital offerings, “it wasn’t our core focus,” said Burgis, who has spent the past seven years in the interactive arena. “But in order to effectively incorporate digital, we needed to bring in a mature team with the appropriate set of skills and talent.”
To that end, former Kadium principals Kevin Newby, Mike Fung and Derick Daily joined the management team of Euro RSCG San Francisco with Newby assuming the title of director, digital services, while Fung and Daily were named co-ECD’s with existing Euro RSCG San Francisco ECD Ernie Lageson. Euro’s original creative group will work hand-in-hand with the new team.
In addition to an influx of interactive ideas, Euro may, at some point in time, have access to Kadium clients such as Google, Sony, Genentech and Adobe.
“We have not worked with their clients before,” said Burgis, “but we would love that opportunity assuming it is natural and organic.”
At this point in time, however, Burgis is focused on ensuring that the now 60-member staff — 30 of whom are former Kadium employees — is comfortable. Looking ahead, Burgis’ mantra is added value.
“Euro’s main focus will be on providing our clients with more services for the same price or less,” he said. “There’s been a lot of attention paid to analytics and back-end business, but very little to true strategic planning and consumer insight.”
Also top of mind for Burgis is integration, which, when taken from a digital standpoint, means “keeping banners and search in mind when developing a Web site or even incorporating traditional advertising into the site development,” he added.
As far as channel cohesion goes, Burgis explained that “while digital is racing ahead in leaps and bounds, it’s not as if TV, radio, or print fell off the map. In fact, it’s still going to be a long time before we see digital taking more money than other mediums.”
