GLOBAL – JULY 5, 2012: Publicis Groupe has acquired the remaining 51% of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) from founders Nigel Bogle and Sir John Hegarty and other partners. Publicis Groupe has held 49% stake in BBH since 2002 and this acquisition brings the Groupe’s ownership to 100%.
Founded in London in 1982, BBH has a micro-network with offices in New York, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Los Angeles with 1000 employees worldwide. Revenue for the BBH micro-network (excluding Brazil) reached 112.2 million euros in 2011.
Considered as one of the world’s legendary agencies, BBH has highly-acclaimed campaigns such as “Vorsprung durch Technik” for Audi, “Keep Walking” for Johnnie Walker, “To Fly. To Serve” for British Airways, “The Axe Effect” for Axe and “The Web is what you make of it” for Google.
The acquisition also signals a change in management as Bogle and Hegarty will remain active on client business but will transfer executive responsibility to this management team. NEOGAMA’s Alexandre Gama will succeed Hegarty as worldwide chief creative officer while previous group chief executive officer Simon Sherwood takes the helm as group chairman. Gwyn Jones, who joined BBH as part of the first graduate intake in 1987, becomes group chief executive officer and Neil Munn, CEO of BBH’s brand ventures company Zag, takes on the group chief operating officer role in addition to his current role.
“The key point for us was the preservation of our operational independence in managing the BBH brand, which has produced almost uninterrupted growth for thirty years. The new ownership not only ensures our autonomy, but brings us considerable advantages through Publicis Groupe’s resources and global infrastructure," BBH founder Bogle said.
Along with the new acquisition, Publicis has also snapped 100% of the shares of top Brazilian creative agency NEOGAMA/BBH. BBH held 34% of the shares and the remaining percent from founder Gama and his partners.
Maurice Lévy, chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe said: “We have decided, together with Nigel, John and Alexandre, to engineer an integration that will preserve and protect their specific culture, their working methods, and the characteristics of the agencies through an approach of “autonomy inside” the Groupe."
Based in Sao Paulo, with an office in Rio de Janeiro, NEOGAMA/BBH employs a staff of approximately 270. NEOGAMA/BBH’s 2011 revenue reached 42.2 million euros. NEOGAMA/BBH will retain its name and will continue to be led by its founder and chief creative officer Alexandre Gama.
