STW Group agency Designworks has acquired Wellington based design and digital communications agency The Church.
See full release below:
“March 10, 2014: Designworks, an STW Group company and Australasia’s leading strategic design business, continues to implement its regional growth strategy with the announcement that Wellington based design and digital communications agency The Church will be joining the Group effective immediately.
The deal sees Designworks acquire 100% of the 15-person agency, creating the region’s largest strategic brand and multi-disciplinary design practice with more than 130 staff across its five regional offices. Designworks Group Chairman, Sven Baker, said the deal brings together two highly recognised and respected businesses with complementary skills and leading capabilities.
"I'm thrilled about The Church team becoming part of the Designworks family. They're a great bunch of young, super talented and passionate design loving people and they fired up about being part of the future we're building. I'm very confident they will be a powerful addition to the Wellington office.
"Paul Soong and his team bring a combination of capabilities we've been looking for to emulate the multi-disciplinary dynamic we've built so successfully in the Auckland market over recent years. They have very strong digital, UX and motion content capabilities which are increasingly in demand across our client base. They also bring bench strength in marketing communications sphere which again is a valuable addition to the Designworks toolkit as we strengthen our position as an Omni-channel brand creation and curation arena.”
Soong, who founded The Church in 2000, concurred, saying: “I’m incredibly excited about the future this creates for the new Designworks Wellington office. We have great alignment in values and vision and have very complementary skills. We share a common belief in the power of design to transform a customer experience and business performance. We've always admired and respected Designworks from afar and now we can’t wait to add our energy to the mix.”
The Church team will move into the Designworks Wellington campus on March 10, and have already begun collaborating on a number of joint projects and new pitches.
Designworks is part of STW, Australasia’s leading marketing content and communications group.”
