Company:Stagwell

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Stagwell
Formerly
  • The Stagwell Group
  • MDC Partners
NASDAQ: STGW
IndustryAdvertising, marketing, communications, media
Founded2015
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Key people
Mark Penn, Founder & CEO
Brands
  • 6 Degrees
  • 72andSunny
  • 10 Thousand Design
  • Activista
  • Allison+Partners
  • Anomaly
  • Assembly
  • Attention
  • Brand Citizens
  • Bruce Mau Design
  • Cahoots Studios
  • Code and Theory
  • Colle McVoy
  • Concentric Health Experience
  • Crispin Porter Bogusky
  • Doner
  • Emerald Research Group
  • Exponent
  • Forsman & Bodenfors
  • ForwardPMX
  • GALE
  • Happy F&B
  • The Harris Poll
  • HarrisX
  • Hecho Studios
  • Hello Design
  • HL Group
  • Hunter
  • Ink Global
  • Instrument
  • Kenna
  • Kettle
  • KWT Global
  • Legend
  • Locaria
  • Media Kitchen
  • MMI Agency
  • MONO
  • Multiview
  • National Research Group
  • Northstar
  • Observatory
  • Redscout
  • Reputation Defender
  • Rhythm
  • Scout Health
  • SKDK
  • Sloane & Company
  • Stagwell Tech
  • Storyline Strategies
  • Targeted Victory
  • Team Enterprises
  • Trade X Partners
  • UNION
  • Unreasonable Studios
  • Veritas
  • VITRO
  • Wolfgang L.A.
  • WyeComm
  • YML
  • Yamamoto
Websitewww.stagwellglobal.com

Stagwell, formerly The Stagwell Group, is a global marketing and communications group that refers to itself as the first holding company "founded in the digital era." Founded in 2015 by Mark Penn, Stagwell companies operate in four areas: digital transformation and marketing, research and insights, marketing communications, and content and media. The firm’s assets include 72andSunny, Anomaly, Code and Theory, SKDK, The Harris Poll and Instrument among many others; in public filings it describes its philosophy as combining "the art and science of creativity."[1] It was founded in 2015 by Mark Penn.[2] In 2020, The Stagwell Group announced plans to merge with its affiliate MDC Partners.[3] The merger was completed in August 2021 and made the combined entity, Stagwell Global, a top ten global advertising holding company.[4][5]

History

Mark Penn founded The Stagwell Group in 2015.  He was previously the founder of the agency Penn & Schoen (now PSB Insights) with his Harvard roommate, Doug Schoen.  Immediately prior to founding The Stagwell Group, Penn was working as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Microsoft. He founded The Stagwell Group with a $250 million investment from former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.[6] At the time, Penn described The Stagwell Group as "an alternative for marketers from the traditional ad-agency holding company model."[7]

In 2015, Stagwell acquired National Research Group from Nielsen.  Stagwell also acquired Democratic public affairs and political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker (now SKDK).

In 2016, Stagwell acquired The Harris Poll from Nielsen. The Harris Poll has tracked Americans’ sentiments and behaviors since 1963.  The firm additionally acquired Hubub as the foundation of Stagwell Technologies, a big data and adtech group.  In 2016, Stagwell founded Wyecomm (Wye Communications) in a joint venture with Finn Partners.

In 2017, Stagwell acquired Forward3D, Scout and also acquired Observatory from CAA.  The company also acquired pilot movie testing assets from Nielsen and combined them with NRG, and acquired mobile research assets from Nielsen to form HarrisX.[8][9]

In 2018, Stagwell acquired Ink and later ReputationDefender. Stagwell also secured a $260 million investment from AlpInvest Partners.[10]

In 2019, Stagwell merged the PMX Agency and Forward3D to form ForwardPMX.  The company also invested $100 million in MDC Partners.  Mark Penn was named CEO of MDC.  Stagwell also acquired Rhythm as part of Code and Theory, as well as The Search Agency and Multiview.

In 2020, Stagwell acquired Seward Square Strategies as part of SKDK,[11] as well as Headliner Labs as part of ForwardPMK.[12]

In August 2021, following the merger of The Stagwell Group with MDC Partners, Stagwell formed Stagwell Media Network, a group of multichannel agencies including Assembly, ForwardPMX, MMI Agency, Media Kitchen, and Grason, creative consultancy GALE, B2B specialist Multiview, and transcreation agency Locaria.[13]

Present operations

Prior to its combination with MDC, The Stagwell Group operated in four groups:

  • Digital transformation and marketing (Code and Theory, ForwardPMX, Koalifyed, Harris Poll Compass, MultiView , etc.);
  • Data and insights (National Research Group, Harris Poll, HarrisX, Emerald Research Group, etc.);
  • Content and media (Observatory, Wolfgang LA, Ink, etc.);
  • Marketing communications (Targeted Victory, SKDK, WyeComm, Sloane & Company, Reputation Defender etc.).

Merger with MDC Partners

MDC Partners was a publicly-traded advertising and media holding company based in New York. MDC Partners historically acquired majority stakes in partner agencies, and as of 2021 had more than 50 partner firms worldwide. In 2019, Stagwell invested $100 million into MDC Partners.  Stagwell CEO Mark Penn was then appointed CEO of MDC Partners.[14] On December 21, 2020, the firms announced their intent to merge. On August 23, 2021, Stagwell announced the completion of the merger and the creation of Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ: STGW) as the merged entity. Mark Penn will continue as Chairman and CEO of the combined company. The merged company will be headquartered in New York, with significant offices in Washington, DC.[15]

References

  1. ↑ SEC. "Mdc Partners Inc Merger Prospectus/Communication 425" (in en). https://sec.report/Document/0001104659-20-138624/. 
  2. ↑ SmileyJuly 24, Minda; 2020. "Marketing Is the Answer Whether You're Growing or Struggling" (in en-US). https://www.adweek.com/agencies/marketing-pandemic-mdc-partners-ceo-mark-penn/. 
  3. ↑ "Stagwell Group organic revenue spikes 59.9% in Q4". https://www.prweek.com/article/1709563?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social. 
  4. ↑ SmileyDecember 21, Minda; 2020. "MDC Partners and Stagwell Group Agree to Merge" (in en-US). https://www.adweek.com/agencies/mdc-partners-and-stagwell-group-agree-to-merge/. 
  5. ↑ https://digiday.com/marketing/stagwell-bets-on-organic-growth-to-power-its-merger-with-mdc-partners-as-it-retires-the-mdc-name/
  6. ↑ O’Reilly, Lara (2018-08-14). "Mark Penn’s Stagwell Group Raises $260 Million" (in en-US). Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-penns-stagwell-group-raises-260-million-1534244400. 
  7. ↑ Tadena, Nathalie (2016-05-12). "Mark Penn Is Out to Reinvent the Ad Holding Company" (in en-US). Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-penn-is-out-to-reinvent-the-ad-holding-company-1463082519. 
  8. ↑ Busch, Anita (2017-07-14). "Stagwell Group Acquires TV Pilot Testing Assets From Nielsen" (in en-US). https://deadline.com/2017/07/stagwell-group-tv-pilot-testing-assets-nielsen-1202129283/. 
  9. ↑ Bond, Paul (2015-11-16). "Nielsen’s NRG Acquired by Stagwell Group" (in en-US). https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nielsens-nrg-acquired-by-stagwell-840575/. 
  10. ↑ O’Reilly, Lara (2018-08-14). "Mark Penn’s Stagwell Group Raises $260 Million" (in en-US). Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-penns-stagwell-group-raises-260-million-1534244400. 
  11. ↑ "PR Sector M&A Activity Declines, But Independents Stay Busy" (in en). https://www.provokemedia.com/latest/article/pr-sector-m-a-activity-declines-but-independents-stay-busy. 
  12. ↑ Coffee, Patrick. "Kenneth Cole and Cole Haan are betting on voice-enabled search options. Stagwell Group just snapped up a buzzy startup to try and cash in." (in en-US). https://www.businessinsider.com/forwardpmx-mark-penn-stagwell-group-acquires-chatbot-startup-headliner-labs-2020-3. 
  13. ↑ O’BrienAugust 4, Kyle; 2021. "Newly Merged Stagwell Inc. Announces Q2 Earnings" (in en-US). https://www.adweek.com/agencies/with-mdc-merger-complete-stagwell-inc-announces-q2-earnings/. 
  14. ↑ Visconti, Ambrogio. "The Stagwell Group’s $100 Million Investment In MDC Partners" (in en-US). https://www.globallegalchronicle.com/the-stagwell-groups-100-million-investment-in-mdc-partners/. 
  15. ↑ Lepitak, Stephen; OsterMay 5, Erik; 2021. "MDC and Stagwell Group Release Q1 Results, Merger Moves" (in en-US). https://www.adweek.com/agencies/mdc-and-stagwell-group-merger-moves-ahead-as-q1-results-are-reported/. 




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