Granite Digital, the Cork-headquartered creative and digital agency group has acquired Connector, the social marketing agency that was set up by Conor Lynch.
With offices in Cork, Dublin and Cork, Granite is a full service digital transformation agency, Granite works with a wide range of public and private sector organisations across a number of disciplines including design, UX, web development, SEO, app development, managed hosting. It was named on the Deloitte Fast 50 in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
In January 2020, Granite announced a €2.5m investment with the aim of creating 50 new jobs in Cork, Galway and Dublin. The investment came following a substantial period of growth for the company during which it grew its turnover to €5m over the past three years. The agency group says it plans to grow this to €10m by the end of 2023. The acquisition of Connector is expected to add €1m to group turnover.
Other acquisitions made by Granite in recent years include Webtrade, MediaOne, Enhance Multimedia and Apps Made Easy.
According to Ivan Adriel, CEO of Connector: “Both during and following restrictions imposed by COVID-19, it is more important than ever for businesses to leverage creative and digital opportunities to remain competitive in a changing world. For example, with less people on the high street, we are helping brands to divert out of home advertising spending into innovative areas, such as our influencer platform, to ensure that brands and their campaigns can still reach their target audience no matter where they are located. The coming together of Connector and Granite Digital means clients can get the best of creativity and the best of digital in a one-stop shop. With us, companies can now enjoy a seamless integration of all digital and creative channels, activities and strategies – ensuring brand consistency and significant cost savings.”
The deal also sees Conor Lynch, founder and former CEO exit the business to launch his new venture SelfMakers.com, a platform offering personalised career plans to enable employees, entrepreneurs, freelancers and others to achieve self-made success.
“This acquisition is fantastic news for everyone within Granite Digital and Connector and especially our existing and prospective clients,” says Seamus White, co-founder and partner, Granite Digital.
“With our combined skills and knowledge, we can now truly provide companies both in Ireland and overseas with market-leading digital and creative services. Connector’s involvement on global projects with huge blue-chip organisations is opening entirely new doors for us, enabling Granite to offer a full suite of digital services to some of the world’s most recognised brands.,” he says.
“It was evident from the outset that this partnership was the perfect fit not only from a business perspective, but also culturally. We share the same vision of enabling brands to thrive through rich engagement, excellent user-experience and highly-coordinated messaging, with the Connector team bringing real creative flair to this ambition. We are excited to bring our combined skills and knowledge to bear to provide brands with the creative edge needed to stand out from the pack and succeed today,” White adds.
