Exclusive: Stagwell Inc. Has Combined MMI and Media Kitchen

Today Stagwell agencies MMI and Media Kitchen combined to form a single agency. The brands are consolidated under the MMI name, and MMI CEO Maggie Malek is leading the combined agency. The move allows MMI, a boutique full-service agency, and Media Kitchen, a small agency specializing exclusively in media, to offer more to their clients as a full-service agency with media expertise. The agency's total headcount sits at 175, made up of 130 of MMI's original employees and bolstered by Media Kitchen's 45. Together, the agencies service Amazon, Gillette, Loews Hotels, Olay, Pantene, Volvo Trucks, Waste Management and more. Core office locations for the agency will remain in New York and Houston, with presences in Cincinnati, Washington D.C., Toronto and Montreal. "By bringing these two agencies together, we are offering a strong alternative solution to drive measurable growth for modern brands,” Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn said in a statement. "Our challenger positioning is rooted in creating new kinds of collaborations and MMI plus Media Kitchen creates a media speedboat capable of innovating quickly for clients." Streamlined offerings through consolidation Stagwell's decision to combine the two agencies is another example of how holding companies have prioritized streamlined offerings in recent years, resulting in widespread consolidation and the coming together of several big agency brands. Uniting a media shop with a full-service agency is a response to clients who want fewer agency partners on their rosters and more integrated, flexible support from their teams. An integrated offering brings media and creative back together, after those two practices had operated separately for several decades. After its acquisition of MDC partners last year, Stagwell, Inc. became one of the newer media agency conglomerates on the block. The agency continues to streamline its offerings. Stagwell formed a media network last September and soon thereafter combined ForwardPMX with Assembly under the Assembly brand name and leadership of James Townsend, who is also the global CEO of the Stagwell Media Network. Now, Stagwell's Media Network includes over 3,000 employees and manages approximately $5 billion in media. In addition to MMI, the Stagwell network includes Assembly, Goodstuff, Grason, GALE, Multiview, Locaria and Ink. An integrated offering "MMI covers ground from creative, to comms and PR, to media," Townsend told Adweek. "It's felt like an opportunity to get behind that momentum by bringing a really strong Media Kitchen team into the MMI brand under Maggie's excellent leadership to really catalyze that growth and offer a broader, more scaled service to our clients." MMI is over 30 years old and has always offered integrated creative, comms and media. The integrated offering allowed it to serve clients in the D2C space and any clients looking to drive sales. It was an all-in-one offering. By contrast, Media Kitchen was a media-only shop, said Malek. The combined agencies bring new skill sets to clients and expanded offerings to both Media Kitchen clients and its employees. The consolidation also expands MMI's media offering to New York. "Making sure that our offering is differentiated to our clients but also to our people," said Malek, noting that she is excited to have employees work on new brands as the two agencies come together. Malek has been at MMI for 11 years, ascending from an account executive position to her current role as CEO. Before her promotion, she created MMI's first social and influencer practices and led its strategy team. The agency has achieved year-over-year growth for the past five years, recently winning a leading CPG manufacturer and expanding its work for Amazon. In terms of what's ahead, the newly-combined agency plans to expand its headcount. "This now more scaled business will have a greater potential to invest. We're going to add headcount to this group," said Townsend. When It Comes to M&A Plans, Retaining Talent Is an Investment in Growth