Creative Spark, the Cape Town-based digital agency founded by Matthew Buckland, has been acquired by M&C Saatchi for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition includes Creative Spark’s digital publishing arm, whose titles include Memeburn, Ventureburn and Gearburn.
Mike Abel, who heads the M&C Saatchi Group in Africa, said in a statement that Creative Spark will remain an independent, standalone business, also servicing specific clients within the M&C Saatchi Abel Johannesburg agency.
The acquisition follows a number of similar deals involving international agencies buying local digital-focused firms in recent years. Advertising giant WPP has been particularly active, snapping up a number of digital agencies and specialist social media businesses, including Quirk, Cerebra, Native and Acceleration.
M&C Saatchi Global CEO Moray MacLennan said the acquisition of Creative Spark is in line with a growing trend of “integrated agencies”. The deal will “help ensure that digital is a core pillar of the marketing, advertising and publishing conversation”, MacLennan said.
M&C Saatchi Abel, which established an office in South Africa five years ago, was named as agency of the year at the recent Financial Mail AdFocus awards. — © 2015 NewsCentral Media
