iris Expands in Europe, North America & Asia

iris, the global creative innovation network today announced it would be expanding its global proposition, through the acquisition of marketing and communications agency Pepper Global.

Pepper, an agency with expertise in B2B, finance, automotive and IT/telco, has 115 people in offices in Munich (HQ), Chicago and Singapore and was previously part of the Computershare Group. Pepper will bring another foothold in central Europe for iris, boost the network’s presence in North America with its first office in the Midwest, and add to its existing proposition in Singapore.  The acquisition will bring iris' offices to 17.  

Steve Bell, CEO Europe at iris: “As a business, iris has always been entrepreneurial, ambitious and born out of client need for a modern agency that can deliver creative innovation across a variety of skill sets, around the world.  Germany is a key market for us, and with some of our clients HQ’s in the region, coupled with Pepper’s complementary expertise in B2B and B2C, makes them an interesting property for us to join forces with.

“We have been able to effectively sustain a good balance of organic growth and strategic partnerships that have brought us to the brilliant position we are in today.  We’ve never been satisfied with the box we’re in – we are always working to move forwards.  This is just the next step in that mission.”   

The two companies are aligned in a passion of fusing the best in creativity, technology and strategy and already share a client in MINI, which iris is lead creative agency for in the UK and Pepper is the lead agency for the MINI Friendship Service, a program for owners of MINI’s aged 4 years or more in Germany.

Markus Dunz, Managing Director at Pepper Global: “iris, in a relatively short time, has successfully created a new breed of agency network based on the same principles we value in our own business.  Through this partnership we’ll have access to a global network, and iris’ depth of digital expertise.  We’re looking forward to operating with the flexibility, opportunity and bravery that is in iris’ DNA.”

Markus Dunz will join the iris EU board and along with Europe CEO Steve Bell, will ensure an ongoing and active integration strategy to ensure that the complimentary skills sets are optimized effectively across all regions.  Global creative directors Shaun McIlrath (based in London) and Sean Reynolds (based in New York) will continue to lead the networks’ creative output, with Chief Strategy Officer Sam Noble leading all aspects of strategy and insight across the network. 

iris also opened its first office in South America in December 2013 with the acquisition of local market leader Router in Sao Paulo. 

Earlier in 2013, iris acquired Datalytics, a specialist in data analysis and management, to further strengthen its insight-led creative proposition.      

Prior to its acquisition by iris, Pepper was part of the Computershare Group, a global leader in share registration and other specialized financial and communication services.

Computershare Group was advised on the transaction by Clarity, the corporate finance advisory firm specialising in media and technology.