Harrogate's Impression Studio acquires East Anglia digital agency

Yorkshire-based creative agency, Impression Studio, has announced it has welcomed FLOCC, a digital agency based in East Anglia to its group, as part of an acquisition for an undisclosed sum.

The growing firm, established by CEO and founder Charlie Hartley, now has 15 staff across two agency brands; Impression and sister agency, Next Chapter, which specialises in digital marketing.

The addition of FLOCC adds another 2 members of staff to the business, along with a base in East Anglia, enabling further growth across the UK. It also bolsters its digital development capabilities, adding FLOCC’s expertise in Sanity CMS and React.

Hartley, who founded Impression in 2009, spoke of the decision behind the acquisition of FLOCC, saying: “I’m delighted to have added FLOCC to our business. It was clear from initial discussions that the values, expertise, client base and culture of FLOCC aligned so closely with our own, and the skills and capabilities of the existing FLOCC team will add significant value to our offering, and vice versa.

“The digital world is constantly evolving, and so are the behaviours and expectations of customers. The race for their attention and their business is won by those who can best match the relentless pace of change. We exist to keep our clients at the head of that race and - with the added power of our new addition - will continue to strive even further.

“As a growing and ambitious agency, this acquisition enables us to operate more cohesively in East Anglia, expand the group’s overall service offering, continue to recruit outstanding talent, and inject new life into our service delivery and client services”, he continued.

FLOCC’s founder and managing director, Mark Merrywest, will be exiting the business. Under his leadership, FLOCC has delivered work for a wide range of organisations including the University of East Anglia, the University Arms Hotel in Cambridge, the Sir John Hurt Film Trust, MTV and Tresca Bikes.

Impression boasts a similarly impressive client roster, including Warwick University, Betty’s and Taylors Group, Northern Energy and Manchester Basketball Club.

Daniel Swepson, head of marketing at Next Chapter, added: “We’re really excited to welcome FLOCC’s team and clients to the business and have already identified a wide range of opportunities following the expansion of our service offering and capabilities, which will no doubt be of benefit to Impression, Next Chapter and FLOCC clients alike.

“We look forward to accelerating our technology capabilities, growing and adding value to the client base of all three businesses. We also hope to expand further across East Anglia, working with ambitious brands looking to do things differently and break the mould, which is something we’ve been doing here at Impression and Next Chapter for over a decade.”

Impression, which has been growing steadily by 20-25 per cent year-on-year for the past 3 years, will continue to deliver services from their Harrogate headquarters, with the FLOCC team remaining in Norwich and servicing clients across East Anglia.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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