McMurry and TMG Custom Media, two industry-leading content marketing pioneers, have merged to create the nation’s largest independent full-service content marketing agency. The transaction creates a company with annual revenues of close to $100 million, 270 employees, hundreds of clients, and offices in New York City, Washington, Phoenix and Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The Wicks Group of Companies, a 23-year-old New York private equity firm, worked with the agencies to engineer the transaction and has taken a majority ownership stake in the new company, which will be called McMurry/TMG, LLC. No further financial details of the deal were disclosed.
Matt Petersen, formerly TMG Custom Media’s president, has been named the combined company’s CEO, and Fred Petrovsky, who had been McMurry’s president, is its COO. Keith Sedlak, who was senior vice president, client partnerships, at TMG, has been named chief revenue officer. Chris McMurry, former CEO of McMurry, and Jane Ottenberg and Richard Creighton, founders of TMG, retain a minority interest in the combined company and will continue to be involved.
“The joining of these two financially strong, growing and award-winning companies instantly positions McMurry/TMG as a content marketing industry heavyweight,” said Mr. Petersen. “Content is the new marketing currency, and its importance continues to grow. Marketers are harnessing content’s ability to reach and engage key constituencies in a measurable way across a spectrum of online and offline platforms — from magazines and other content platforms to every type of digital, video, mobile, search and social media experience. The combined capabilities of these two long-time leaders in the field will be a compelling proposition to existing and potential clients.”
The new company will provide a comprehensive range of content marketing services, including content strategy, content creation in all popular forms, content distribution and campaign analytics, to an array of businesses, associations and institutions. The companies’ current clients include hundreds of businesses and nonprofits in fields like healthcare and education, financial services, travel and hospitality, e-commerce and luxury goods. The roster includes a large number of Fortune 500 companies and well-known consumer brands.
Few staff reductions are expected as the companies integrate their operations, since both firms’ service lines are working at full capacity. In mid-2013, the predecessor companies’ New York City offices will be combined in a new facility, which will serve as company headquarters.
“This is a tremendous combination of talent and industry presence, which we believe creates the largest and best positioned content marketing agency in the United States, if not the world,” said Dan Kortick, managing partner of The Wicks Group. “We are very proud to have brought these two visionary firms together with this transaction and are delighted to add them to our portfolio of sector leaders. Growth prospects for this corner of the marketing industry are very bright. We are confident that the management team in place at McMurry/TMG is well equipped to take advantage of the growing demand for content marketing.”
McMurry and TMG were represented by JEGI CLARITY, a New York City-based investment bank that specializes in the media, information, marketing services and technology industries. AMR International acted as strategic advisors to The Wicks Group of Companies on the transaction.