The acquisition, which comes a year after MWW bought London-based Parys Communications, is part of the company’s ongoing plan to expand into the UK and Europe. It currently has 250 staff across nine offices in the UK and US.
Braben’s 12-strong team joins MWW’s TMT division in its London office, which is led by Paddy Herridge, who became MD when Parys was bought last year. The move brings the firm’s UK arm to 24 staff in total. Braben’s founder, Sarah Locke, will become a global brand ambassador for the company, and MD Matt Bourn takes on the role of senior vice president, head of the MWW European Media Practice. The enhanced MWW UK arm now offers consumer, corporate, B2B, public affairs, healthcare and technology, media and telecoms PR, with Braben clients, including The Weather Channel, Bauer Media, Starcom Mediavest Group and The CMA, joining MWW clients, which includes the BBC, Four Seasons Health Care, NCR, News UK and Cotton Inc.
Michael Kempner, CEO of MWW, said: “Braben has a fantastic reputation in its market and a great team that knows the media, advertising, and technology sectors inside and out. When combined with our existing TMT portfolio the joint business will be amongst Europe’s market leaders in these sectors. Sarah and Matt combine great strategic vision with flawless execution and they are going to be a valuable asset to MWW as we grow into Europe. “We’re already seeing 50%+ year-on-year organic growth in our UK business and this acquisition will further accelerate our ambition to become the UK’s leading mid-sized PR agency. Our mission is to continually increase our scale and service offering so that we can provide clients with a full range of public relations and marketing comms services, combined with specialist expertise, knowledge, brilliant contacts and the flexibility to support any client’s communication needs.” Sarah said: “The coming together of Braben with MWW’s UK TMT division will create a European centre of excellence across the media, technology, telecoms and advertising sectors. With 25 years of expertise, knowledge and contacts between us, the division has the ability to provide clients with a complete portfolio of services to meet any communication need. In addition, we can provide these services seamlessly across the UK, Europe and US, reflecting a growing need for many clients across these sectors. Paddy said: “This deal is a clear mark of our ambitions for the UK market. We want to build scale and service offering through strong organic growth as well as through acquisition. The coming together of Braben and MWW’s UK TMT client portfolio will create a powerhouse in the specialism, making us the agency of choice for businesses in these sectors looking for intelligent, impactful public relations.”
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