In the Company of Huskies, the Dublin-based creative and digital agency headed up by Jonathan Forrest has been acquired by Stagwell, for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will see Huskies become part of Forsman & Bodenfors, the Swedish agency group that has offices in Stockholm, Copenhagen, New York, Shanghai, Singaport and Toronto. In the coming months, the agency will change its name to F&B Huskies. Forrest will remain as CEO of the agency.
Clients of Huskies include Allianz, Slack, Nissan, Smurfit Kappa, Guinness Storehouse, and Fáilte Ireland and the National Tourism Development Authority.
“We are delighted to welcome Huskies to the Forsman & Bodenfors Collective. Our mission is to make ideas that change things,and Huskies has deep digital DNA coupled with the big brand thinking and creative firepower that supports that goal,” said Toby Southgate, global CEO, Forsman & Bodenfors.
“By joining forces, we all at Forsman can only benefit from access to their digital expertise and unique approach to helping brands drive attraction as well as attention in today’s crowded market. I’m excited to roll up our sleeves and get started with Jonathan and the team.”
“What an exciting next chapter for Huskies,” says Jonathan Forrest. “Our ambition is to create the best work in the world for our clients, and if we are to achieve this, alignment with one of the top creative brands in Europe is a key next step in our journey,” he adds.
“We’ve been hugely impressed by the vision and creative expertise of Toby and the Forsman & Bodenfors team and look forward to the opportunities that working in a collaboration-focused network like Stagwell will open up for our people, our clients and the agency,” he adds.
Clients of Forsman & Bodenfors include Volvo, SK-II, Google, Goldman Sachs, Polestar, Diageo, P&G, Crocs, LG, General Mills and H&M.
For its part, Stagwell is one of the fastest growing marketing communications networks in the world and was founded in 2015 by chairman and CEO Mark Penn.
“Huskies has built a powerful digital-first operation that we believe will complement the creativity and communications expertise at Forsman & Bodenfors at a time when the agency’s momentum is building worldwide,” says Penn.
With over 13,000 staff operating in 34 countries, Stagwell’s 2022 revenues amounted to $2.86bn while net income weighed in at $65.8bn. Companies and agencies within its global network include the likes of 72andSunny, Anomaly, Crispen Porter Bogusky, Goodstuff Communications, HarrisX, Activista, Observatory, Ink, Allison & Partners and SKDK.
