Ambitious Miroma snaps up Carlsberg agency Fold7
Not so long ago it looked as though what we used to call “mini marcoms” companies had had their day; foundering on the difficulty of making all their expensively acquired bits function at the same time.
Consequently the escape from mini status appeared too challenging. Peter Scott’s Engine was a case in point.
But the fabled tectonic plates in adland are shifting once more and, in any case, hope springs eternal.
Now another contender Miroma Group – sometimes described as an ‘incubator’ – has made a big move by buying a majority stake in UK ad agency Fold7, a 30-year veteran best known for its work on Carlsberg. It also once briefly handled GoComapre.
Miroma founder and CEO Marc Boyan (below) says: “This deal is an important part of Miroma’s ambitious growth plan. It adds new capabilities to both companies, increasing Fold7’s geographical reach and access to diverse skills, whilst adding creative clout and entrepreneurial talent to Miroma.
With Fold7 and its experience agency Hyperactive the London-based group claims revenues of more than $200m with offices in 11 countries and over 350 employees worldwide. Its other companies include entertainment specialist Way to Blue.
As part of the expansion, Fold7 CEO Marc Nohr, a founder of Kitkatt Nohr which was bought by Publicis, becomes Miroma’s CEO Agencies with the rest of the Fold7 team staying in place. Nohr says: “This is a collective of entrepreneurs, not the hierarchy of old. Modern leadership is about liberating and supporting talent. Together, we’re going to achieve things we can’t do on our own to drive client growth.”
Which is a fairly typical refrain in these circumstances but Nohr is a seasoned operator and Miroma is right to recognise that it needs an established creative agency to build its profile.