Jaywing acquires Leeds-based digital agency Bloom in £2.41m deal

UK agency Jaywing has announced the acquisition of Leeds-based agency Bloom.

As part of the deal, an initial consideration of £2.41m is payable to the vendors of Bloom, on a cash and debt free basis and will be financed from funds raised through a placing with new and existing investors and from new bank debt of £1m.

Additional earn-out consideration of up to £5.75m is payable to the vendors, subject to performance criteria, over a two year period ending March 2018.

Bloom has two principle strands to its business in a digital marketing agency and data science led product suite Bloom Intelligence.

The suite includes the social intelligence tool Whisper. Whisper is the intelligence behind Sky Sport’s Premier League advert featuring Thierry Henry and iconic moments from Premier League football. It has also been used by ITV and Domino’s to validate the value of Domino’s X Factor sponsorship.

Bloom has a number of blue chip clients including Sky, SIG, ADT, Arco, Ebuyer and Anytime Fitness, further adding to Jaywing’s portfolio, which includes Pepsico, 3M, E.on, first direct and Pets at Home.

Headquartered in Sheffield, Jaywing already has a strong presence in the north along with the existing Leeds office accounting for around half of its 600 employees.

Bloom CEO Alex Craven will remain in the business and take on responsibility for leading the development of Jawying’s enlarged product set.

Rob Shaw, CEO Jaywing UK & Australia, said: “I’ve known Alex and Bloom for many years and have always been impressed by their professionalism, culture and focus on client service.

“Their development of industry leading tools such as Whisper has set them apart from many agencies; we especially like how Whisper insight has been used to drive emotionally engaging creative.”

Alex Craven, CEO of Bloom, added: “I’ve followed Jaywing’s progress in recent years with great interest. Its impressive data science credentials fit very well with our own use of data science and its application in marketing.

“Tools like Almanac, Jaywing’s online and offline tracking product, sit perfectly alongside the Bloom Intelligence suite, giving us a very rounded offer for today’s marketers.”

Shaw concluded: “I look forward to working with the team to develop their products further and deliver even more to both Jaywing and Bloom clients.”

In July, Jaywing acquired Australian search marketing agency Digital Massive.