Core Report: 2025s Mergers and Acquisitions and FMBE Magazine’s 2026 predictions
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by Frank Wainwright
- Global spending on experiential marketing is valued at $128.3 billion (PQ Media).
- Fortune 1000 marketers: 74% plan to boost experiential budgets in 2025 (EventTrack).
- 80% of companies increased their experiential marketing budgets recently, allocating between 10–30% of total marketing spend (Gradient).
- According to the IPA’s Bellwether Report, UK marketing budgets for events and experiences surged 23.1 % in Q1 2024, the fastest increase in 11 years, followed by a 17.2% gain in Q2, and a projected +18.7% surge for 2024–25 (IPA Bellwether).
- Overall, the UK Experiential Marketing market is growing at around 8–9% annually (Plimsoll UK).
Back at FMBE Awards last year I stood in front of our audience and predicted a year of mergers and acquisitions ahead. To me it was obvious. The climate was right and building. We had two of our own examples in the room from France. Marvesting had come to FMBE alongside its agency Field Sales Solutions and the group had recently added Stellar Global to its ranks. And Globe Groupe had just the added FMBE BE Agency of the Year N2O to its considerable International footprint.
These acquisitions added capacity and reach to the ambitions of both groups, and I only had to name the names, and the ‘globe’ word had already appeared twice.
2025’s climate for acquisition
Before Brexit and COVID a post-Olympic UK was preparing to be a global gateway for sales, marketing, advertising and events.
Those two challenges have now been overcome and UK skills and leadership on this side of the Atlantic are in favour once again. Crucially it is at a time of growth. As evidenced by the multiple reports above, growth is especially apparent for the brand experience arm of FMBE.
Impact XM arrives in the UK with ambitions
After my January address, the first sign major sign of activity saw US business Impact XM claiming a handle on UK expertise as it bought B2B events business Touch Associates, finalising the deal on 4th March. Following that in August, Impact XM brought event experience agency Shelton Fleming into its ownership.
“This acquisition is a key step in building a truly global platform for immersive, high-impact brand experiences,” said Jared Pollacco, CEO of Impact XM. “With the addition of Shelton Fleming, we’re enhancing our ability to support clients with 24/7 global service, consistent execution across markets, and deeper integration of strategy, creative, and technology.”
For the time being the globe, according to Impact XM requires its operation from essential hubs across the North America + London, but its increasing diaspora is definitely as start.
Impact XM stated, “Operating from key hubs in Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Princeton, Toronto, and London and a growing network of remote team members across the globe – Impact XM offers clients a globally connected, regionally informed, and strategically driven partner for experiential marketing at every scale.”
MCI extends its UK base
Acquisitions continued in July as global operator MCI picked up UK events business Pure Communications. It had already purchased events agency Meet and Potato in April.
Charlee Gough, Managing Director of MCI UK, commented: “We are reimagining how we partner with clients—with new and existing talent, expanded capabilities, and a stronger presence across the UK. “
Adm Group merges with Indicia Worldwide
July also saw the arrival of adm Indicia, as ‘the next generation Brand Activation Agency, to create and activate meaningful brand experiences that drive marketing ROI.”
Yves Rogivue, Co-Executive Chairman of adm Indicia said, “This day has been a long time coming. Our joined-up proposition is founded on responding to the compromise we see across the marketing landscape. We have the capability to allow brands to activate their marketing consistently, and to a high standard, across the globe. Our significant investments in technology and data capability means we can execute and measure campaigns at scale.
Adm Indicia stated “The merged entity will see adm Group acquire wholly owned subsidiary Indicia Worldwide from Konica Minolta, Inc. It creates a global footprint across 35 countries, serving over 1000+ brands worldwide for clients. The combined company will be headquartered in London, UK.”
Identity acquires Smyle, looking at US
In October we saw the acquisition of experiential events business Smyle by the ambitious group Identity.
Olivier Vallee, Managing Director of Identity, said: “This is a moment of strength. By unifying now, we combine scale with specialism, delivering enhanced experiences for clients in a more efficient and effective way. Our teams’ talent remains the cornerstone of everything we do.”
Dominic Thomas-Smith, Managing Director of Smyle, added: “We’ve always shared a belief in the power of experience. This alignment is not just strategic, it’s disruptive. Together, we’re challenging industry norms and creating something greater than the sum of our parts, for clients and for our people.”
On this occasion the global ambition is to expand to the US.
Identity told us “The newly unified Identity will continue to expand its international footprint. While headquartered in the UK, the agency already operates globally, with an established presence in the UAE and Saudi Arabia and a new office opening on the US East Coast in October.”
UK agencies prove talent exports to US
We’ve seen some smaller agencies doing similar. In 2024 agency Purity and event design agency EC followed agencies like 2Heads and Sense to grab a foothold in the US market. The US offers a huge and growing market with experiential events worth $52.80 billion in 2023 and commanding 45.5% of global spending on overall experiential marketing. The US market is due further new impetus with a World Cup and Olympic Games to host.
US business Spiro acquires UK originated 2Heads
2Heads global expansion has been part of the reason that the agency became attractive to acquire, a process that we saw confirmed in December with takeover by Spiro. (Spiro in turn is owned by events business GES.)
“2Heads shares our belief in the power of creativity and innovation to connect brands and people,” said Jeff Stelmach, Global President of Spiro. “Together, we’ll build on that shared vision by exploring new ways to deliver impactful, strategic creative experiences while ensuring continuity for the clients and teams that make both agencies exceptional. This partnership expands our global presence and gives 2Heads’ clients access to Spiro’s worldwide scale, enabling us to deliver extraordinary experiences wherever their audiences are.”
The world’s biggest sales and marketing business takes shape
Just ahead of the 2Heads announcement had come the biggest news of all. The megabuses of Omnicom and Interpublic Group came together in November to make the world’s biggest sales and marketing business.
This merger will be heavily scrutinised of course with job losses in prospect. As a story it heavily influences my conclusion (below)
Reuters reported on 1st December that job losses are expected to reach 4000, with 85% of the losses client facing.
Encore acquired First whilst OrangeDoor merged with Unbridled
Thes two acquisitions in December saw UK brand experience creative expertise join forces with US production and event design agencies.
Maureen Ryan Fable, CEO of First said. “Our team’s ability to integrate seamlessly into a customer’s culture ensures every event feels authentic to each organization’s brand. Combined with Encore’s global reach and resources, we are poised to continue delivering exceptional experiences, through both embedded teams and project-based event design and delivery, for our partners to make sure their visions shine.”
Elizabeth Heron CEO and founder of OrangeDoor, which will now be known as OrangeDoor, an Unbridled company, said the merger was ‘more than a business transaction’.
“Together we’ll be unlocking opportunities and bringing a greater sense of responsibility into large scale events. Creativity and innovation have been our watchwords over the last 25 years. Now, combined with extensive stateside production and performance expertise, we’re set to deliver even greater impact and outcomes for our clients and their events.”
Havas on the acquisition trail – and again it is with global ambitions
A big December move saw Havas acquire Bearded Kitten to bring the agency into its Havas Play group.
Bearded Kitten is an agency with a reputation for creative zip
Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO, Havas said “The acquisition of Bearded Kitten is a statement of our ambition to scale our Havas Play offering globally.”
Field Marketing and Brand Experience relations show compatibility
Global brands increasingly want cross border or multinational campaigns. It is a steady evloution and it points towards synergies between field marketing and brand experience agencies, This was illustrated back in April when Brand Partnership Group, owners of outsourced field sales and retail activation agency Blue Square acquired Kru Live.
Kru Live is a market-leading agency that delivers premium staffing, entertainment and live event implementation services for global brands including Renault, PlayStation, Google, Revolut and Heineken.
“This is a defining moment for Kru Live,” said Sarah-Jane Benham, CEO of Kru Live Global. “From our humble beginnings to where we are today, I couldn’t be more proud of our team and the legacy we’ve built. Joining the Brand Partnership Group allows us to stay true to who we are while unlocking new opportunities, resources and scale that will accelerate our growth and enhance the value we bring to our clients and staff worldwide. We will continue to operate under our existing brand and structure, staying true to the Kru Live culture our clients and crew know and love.”
Field Marketing Consolidating
Groups such as Smollan, Acosta Europe and Marvesting are consolidating their 2024 acquisitions. Acosta’s acquisition of Dee Set was a major one of 2024.
Field marketing businesses offer brand experience agencies good strategic partnership as they often have access to the people and logistical resources that growing brand experience businesses need to expand. Equally Field Marketing agencies are keen to diversify through creative and digital innovation.
Smollan added innovative UK digital sampling business Send Me A Sample in 2024 and e-commerce business Optimize in 2025. The global powerhouse HQ’d in Johannesburg has been increasing its experiential footprint alongside field sales. It already owns brand marketing and retail experience agency IMA in Leeds. This year Smollan took a controlling share in the holding company Advantage Smollan, the agency business that owns REL Field Marketing and Powerforce. As a consequence, Advantage Smollan has rebranded to Smollan.
2026 predictions: FM agencies likely to add experiential talent
Most major FM agencies have seen growth and expansion in their internal experiential arms. The perception is that FM agencies offer logistical strength and powerful data and insight analysis, coupled with honed brand ambassador training processes.
It is easy to guess that these divisions will add talent and/or rebrand and/or acquire whole agencies from BE.
FMBE Awards have seem powerful acquisitions and mergers discussed under its roof, a very notable one being the 2008 acquisition of experiential events agency TRO by field sales Omnicom giant CPM. I think we will see more.
2026 predictions: International vision sought after
From our news last week… Michael Wyrley-Birch, who back in 2008 was in the thick of the TRO team that negotiated TRO’s acquisition… Michael was in our news as a new appointment as President and Group Managing Director, Growth and Strategy, at Strata Group.
Michael Wyrley-Birch said: “I’ve followed Strata’s momentum closely and have been consistently impressed by the ambition of the Group and the calibre of its people. With clients demanding greater agility and sharper strategic thinking, Strata’s integrated capabilities enable us to create more impactful solutions.
Strata is itself a Group product of the merger between 2 FMBE agencies Communique and Crown in 2018. The agency recently expanded into the Middle East.
Michael Wyrley-Birch’s intriguing CV saw him leading TRO as Group CEO whilst, concurrently establishing Omnicom LA agency The Story House. That’s a skillset unsurprisingly in demand in the current growth climate.
The mergers and acquisitions process together with industry growth has led to an active jobs market, with resourceful management under increasing demand.
2026 predictions – The result of merger fallout
Efficiencies driven by 4000 Omnicom and IPG job losses likely be mirrored by other big agencies leading to some very talented client communicators becoming available. In a growing BE marketing this talent will likely be rehomed.
Where will that talent go? In the next 12 months we can expect to see:
- New standalone FMBE agencies – rehoming the talents of some of the agency leaders not retained after merger.
- New brand experience divisions at previously digital, PR or OOH focussed agencies – following demand and opportunity
- New field marketing divisions at brand experience agencies – a reversal of the norm but potentially a bold way for a BE agency to build logistical scale.
- New brand experience and retail experience divisions at field marketing agencies
In the top category, new stand alone agencies, the core demands with be creativity and innovation to deliver campaigns with local flavour. Being from the West Country I think of this as the Cider factor. Very few independent cider brands would covet a global agency yet their investment into brand experience can be significant. Think Thatcher’s festival balloon bar tours with Bray Leino Events.
https://brayleinoevents.com/work/thatchers-balloon-bar
New products, challenger brands, new tech and telecoms, brand events tailored to unique sponsorship, business events – many of these will need smaller agencies delivering impulsive tactical campaigns or focussed on aspects of the home country or regional culture. Dominant sectors can expect to be home produced entertainment, local/national apps, cosmetics, health and wellbeing, travel and transport, sports products, innovative FMCG items, alcoholic drinks.
As more global brands seek International roll out, Holidays are Coming style, home brands will want creative new ideas to achieve cut through and many will come to new agencies with personnel they trust, with the brief.
We had a great example of this in our news this week as new agency In the Moment delivered a uniquely British campaign for a uniquely British brand, Fray Bentos.
And some of these new agencies will pick up an aspiring global brand along the way. Brands including Google, Tesla, Nvidia and Netflix have grown from embers or less since we first started FMBE Awards in 2004. The first iPhone was in 2007. One year at FMBE Award judging, Richard Murfitt, then head of brand at O2 said he was about to start a new job and would come back and win an FMBE Award. 2 years later. with Richard steering the marketing for the new business Just Eat won an FMBE for a crazy bi-election campaign in Corby with Mr Mozzarella of the Don’t Cook party. In other words the pace of change in brands and culture can be rapid.
bbc.com/news/uk-politics-21521130
Who will be next? And who will fall out from the Omnicom/IPG basket and end up instead delivering something so uniquely and creatively British as an Italian politician winning 72 votes whilst jet packing into the land of the trouser press?
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