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Harrix Group adds Itchy Feet to its student events brand line-up

The owner of student events organiser Wicked Student Nights, Harrix Group, has acquired the Itchy Feet brand as it looks to expand its student events portfolio.

According to Harrix, the acquisition of the brand, which has been operating for ten years since it was founded in Leeds in 2007, will give it a potential reach of 1.5m students across 25 UK university towns and cities, making it the largest operator in the student events space.

Specialising in club nights centered around vintage funk, rock and soul, Itchy Feet, which will continued to operate as a separate brand, has grown to encompass regular events in London alongside events organising, its own DJs and podcasts.

Following the acquisition, Leo Bedford, Itchy Feet’s Founder, commented: “We’re delighted to be joining up with Harrix Group. Working with James and his team will allow Itchy Feet to continue to get bigger and better, and we are looking forward to getting started straight away.

“The scale of the two businesses combined is an extremely exciting prospect, and it is great to have found a partner with whom we have such obvious synergy.”

Founded by James Rix and Fergus Harrison, Harrix Group’s portfolio of companies includes Wicked Student Nights, along with staffing agency StreetPR and a clutch of creative and social agencies.

Itchy Feet will sit directly alongside Wicked Student Nights, which is one of London’s longest-running student events brands, and will be managed by a combination of its current senior team and a new team from the Harrix Group.

Commenting on the potential of the new deal, Rix said: “Itchy Feet is a brilliant business and the synergy between it and our existing brands is obvious. Combined with Wicked Student Nights, it will make us the biggest player in the student entertainment business in the UK, reaching around 1.5m students every year.

“There’s also a great fit with our other businesses, which operate in the event and experiential marketing space; we can now offer brands the ability to communicate with and sample 1.5 million Generation Y consumers.”

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