Why Golin’s acquisition of Brooklyn Brothers makes sense

Creativity. That buzzword of the marketing profession in recent years. Deeply important but so hard to define. Creativity seems to have a different meaning depending on the sector and geographical market that you’re operating in. And maybe it is just me – but in hindsight good creativity always looks so obvious!

Adobe and Forrester have done an interesting piece of research linking creativity and business impact and this assumed correlation between creativity and business performance is critial in explaining why Golin has bought The Brooklyn Brothers.

Today's news that Golin has bought Brooklyn Brothers is the latest, and perhaps the biggest, of a probably accelerating trend of PR firms investing in creative talent (along with a bunch of creative clients) via acquisition.

A trip to Cannes Lions demonstrates very clearly how keen the big PR firms are to be seen as centres of creativity. I’ve written a few times about how creativity in PR is different to advertising and other areas of the marcomms mix, but the global PR firms need to be able to show creative credentials across earned media, organic social, paid social and yes - wider advertising briefs.

The deal brings The Brooklyn Brothers’ 130 staff and Hollywood writing room into Golin, increasing the scope of the agency’s New York and London operations. Founding partners Guy Barnett, George Bryant, Paul Parton and Jackie Stevenson will continue to manage The Brooklyn Brothers operations. David Watson, original London founding partner, will continue to work with the team in 2016, after which he plans to leave the business.

“Our clients are looking for ideas that unite the marketing and PR disciplines and experts who can operate seamlessly across both worlds,” Stevenson stated. “We’ve always strived to build our agency at the intersection of marketing and PR and the Golin team shares our passion and commitment. The consumer doesn’t recognize the difference between disciplines – nor should we. We are delighted to be joining the Golin family. ”

“If you were starting a global creative agency today, it would look like The Brooklyn Brothers,” said Matt Neale, president international at Golin. “They operate at the apex of paid and earned media with an exceptional bench of senior talent that delivers compelling content across multiple platforms. They will be a tremendous asset for our clients.”