Seattle-based Hacker Group, an Interpublic Group agency, has merged with several sibling agency offices abroad and rebranded as HackerAgency. The move is a consolidation of agency brands into one CRM and direct marketing-focused unit.
The three DraftFCB branded agencies are based in Munich, Prague and Shanghai.
“The partnership has already helped us secure some business, including Bing,” Hacker Group CEO Spyro Kourtis told AdExhanger. “This is a good example of how having a global footprint allows us to work on global accounts.”
Hacker Group prides itself on securing leads, and DraftFCB has a history of customer loyalty – particularly with its automotive clients. Its biggest customers include AT&T, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Netflix, AAA and Microsoft. Its tagline, “Leads to Loyalty,” is a nod to each company’s specialty.
Before the consolidation, Hacker Agency primarily worked with health insurance, telecommunications and hospitality clients. DraftFCB worked largely with automotive clients, so the two agencies don’t have competitive concerns within their client base.
“What we do is pretty much the same, but how we do it differs. We’re both very results focused, so it made sense to start working,” Kourtis said. “It doesn’t mean a lot of internal changes because we both currently have offices that are managing accounts. We think, over time, we can make organizational and structural changes that are client focused. No one is losing out within the organizations.”
Kourtis will step into a new role as president of the new agency, and DraftFCB Munich’s lead Stephan Horvath will become HackerAgency’s global chief marketing officer. All four HackerAgency offices will report to Carter Murray, FCB’s worldwide CEO.
