Octagon Makes A Play For Multicultural Services; Acquires Agency From Alloy
Sports and entertainment sponsorship consulting agency, Octagon, is strengthening its multicultural capabilities with a new acquisition. Today, the Norwalk-based agency announced that it has picked up urban and multicultural agency, Alloy Access, in the process assuming Alloy Access' client portfolio, which includes adidas, Allstate, Bank of America, BMW, Castrol, GSN, Hennessy, MasterCard, Tr3s, Sprint, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and The Home Depot. Alloy Access was formerly the multicultural marketing division of Alloy Media + Marketing
"The urban and multicultural market will play an increasingly vital role in brands' marketing programs and we see this as an enhancement to our already strong multicultural offering, headed by group director, Matt Neidl, and an opportunity to set Octagon apart in that arena," Octagon Marketing Americas President, Jeff Shifrin, said.
As part of the deal, Alloy Access will be rebranded Octagon Access. Former Alloy Access head, Tru Pettigrew, will join Octagon Access as Senior Vice President.
"Ours has always been an approach based on empowerment and inspiration," Pettigrew explained. "We strive to partner with urban and multicultural consumers, empower them with research-based knowledge/insights and then inspire the representative communities to have a say in programs by creating real and relevant ways to get and send information/messages across trusted platforms."
"What we have seen over the years is that many agencies claimed to be able to connect with these segments, but they were very limited and tactical in their thinking and approach," Jeff Ehrenkranz, Octagon executive vice president and head of the agency's Marketing Solutions unit explained. "Too often, these shops went with what they thought the client wanted or expected and that led to stereotypical programs. Tru and his team think differently and provide different solutions," Ehrenkranz said.
Octagon Access offices will be based in New York.
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