KEY POINTS:
Advertising agency DDB is buying one of New Zealand's few remaining independent ad firms, in the latest episode of the industry's continuing consolidation.
DDB New Zealand group managing director Sharon Henderson has announced a deal to buy Wellington direct advertising consultancy Limb Walker Partners.
It will rebrand the company as Rapp Collins Limb Walker and maintain its foothold in the Wellington advertising market.
The purchase is another sign of growth at DDB - formerly a middle-sized agency, compared to dominant companies Saatchi & Saatchi and Colenso BBDO.
Henderson is a former chief executive of the Clemenger-owned direct-marketing company Aim Proximity, the biggest direct-marketing player.
Before forming the consultancy three years ago, she had worked with both Robert Limb and Lance Walker when they held senior management roles with Aim Proximity.
The DDB purchase of Limb Walker is the second such move in the advertising industry in the first few weeks of this year.
It follows the merger of Marco Marinkovich's Creativebank Advertising with Blue Hat Advertising.
The two deals differ in that DDB is expanding its role in direct marketing, while Creativebank and Blue Hat are small agencies merging to achieve greater scale.
But both follow the trend of small independent agencies consolidating into bigger entities, usually owned by multinational advertising firms.
Singleton Ogilvy & Mather and its local interests have also been active in acquiring independent agencies.
Before Christmas, Ogilvy bought 90 per cent of the independent Auckland agency Metromedia and signalled it was seeking opportunities in Wellington.
Ogilvy had already bought the high-profile, New Zealand creative advertising agency Meares Taine and merged it with its own operation.
The chief executive of the advertising agencies' body Caanz, Mark Champion, said that talented professionals leaving big agencies, setting up their own offices and then selling them back to the agencies was a normal part of a consultancy business.
"I do not think that it is anything to do with business confidence or anything like that," said Champion.
"It is a business built on intellectual property so talent will always be the key."
