The CI Group has added PR to its extensive range of communications services with its acquisition of Clareville, the B2B and consumer media relations and influencer specialists.
This acquisition takes the CI Group even closer to its target of £20m a year turnover and £5m gross margin by the end of 2020.
It follows the earlier acquisition of data analytics consultancy Pearl Analytics and digital marketing specialists CI. Diginut. The full-service integrated communications business now comprises six agencies, with Corporate Innovations specialising in experiential, live events and reward programmes, Roundtable in digital strategy and brand development, and Ellipsis, a design and creative agency.
Clareville has been developing and implementing successful media relations and more recently influencer programmes for major consumer and B2B brands since it was established thirty years ago by John Starr and Val Mumby. Its consumer team has long standing specialist knowledge in the parenting and home sectors with clients including Baby Bjorn, Green People (Organic Babies), Bing, G-Tech and most recently Spacebit, the first UK rover going to the moon.
In B2B PR its expertise is in business travel, meetings and events, including destination venues, worldwide and in the UK. Among its current clients are IMEX Exhibitions, German Convention Bureau, Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, Hamburg Convention Bureau, Riskline, HBAA, Maritim Hotels and Wyboston Lakes Resort.
It has been working for many years in the promotional marketing sector with clients such as Goldstar and in B2B and consumer exhibitions most recently with Clarion Events and New Scientist Live.
The company is based in London with staff also in North America, Germany and the Middle East.
John Starr, co-founder and managing director of Clareville explained: “For quite a while we’ve been wanting to offer a wider range of services to the market by partnering with a bigger organisation with compatible but not competing skills. After working together with the CI Group agencies on projects on an informal basis for several months, we’ve formalised the arrangement and become part of the Group.”
David Watt, CEO of the CI Group said: “The Clareville team and their talents have added a new extra dimension to our wide range of communications expertise, skills that will be valuable to many of the Group’s clients.
“It’s an exciting addition but not, I expect, the last. We continue to search for talent, skills and expertise that will further enhance the capabilities of the Group and extend the range of solutions that we can provide our clients.”
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