Manchester agency Building Blocks joins international digital group

Manchester-headquartered Building Blocks has become the first UK firm to join Dept, a new international group of digital agencies.

With Building Blocks on board, Dept has become a 350-employee group with revenues of more than €45m (£35m) and plans to push its turnover past the €100m mark over the next five years.

Building Blocks, which has additional offices in Spain and the US, has joined Dept alongside four Netherlands-based digital agencies – TamTam, Expand Online, a friend of mine and Second Degree.

Jasper van de Luijtgaarden, Building Blocks’ CEO, said: “2015 was our most successful year to date, with revenue increasing by 25%.

“Joining Dept will accelerate our growth, increase our global footprint, and help us to capitalise on the opportunities that we are seeing in the US and mainland Europe.”

He continued: “Dept’s vision of creating a network of market-leading agencies will help us to better serve our growing client base with complimentary services to our core portfolio.”

Led by the co-founders of Rijswijk-based TamTam, Paul and Bart Manuel, and with investment from Dutch private equity company Waterland, Dept will continue to drive international growth.

Paul commented: “We are excited to welcome the Building Blocks team into the Dept family.

“From the first moment, it felt like a perfect match. We share our culture, our entrepreneurial drive, and the will to always keep improving our work.”

He added: “Building Blocks being part of our network adds to our growing international footprint, and enables us to create even more game-changing digital services for organisations around the world. We can’t wait to work together!”

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