London-based marketing agency Gravity Global has acquired performance media agency Marketing Doctor, it shared with ADWEEK. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
Marketing Doctor’s 35-person team will join Gravity Global, bringing its global headcount to the mid-400s. There will be no redundancies as a result of the acquisition.
Janet Casey, founder and CEO of Marketing Doctor, will manage Gravity Edge, one of Gravity’s business units, while president Michaela Schwartz, vice president Kate Popp and AVP of media Colleen Longley will take on soon-to-be-announced leadership roles.
Marketing Doctor is Gravity Global’s second acquisition this year as the firm accelerates U.S. expansion, following its April purchase of Minnesota-based healthcare branding firm LEE Branding.
According to Jose Lozano, president and North America CEO of Gravity Global, the deal checked every box in the agency’s M&A strategy: “There’s really three reasons why we move forward with an agency, and that is to shore up depth within a practice, to add a capability, or to add a sector,” Lozano told ADWEEK. “They check every single one of the boxes.”
Marketing Doctor strengthens Gravity’s media practice and expands its public sector roster with clients such as the State of New Jersey, while deepening expertise in complex industries like aviation, semiconductors and franchised retail.
Defying Gravity
The marketing Doctor acquisition comes on the heels of a busy few months for Gravity Global.
In June, it was named creative AOR for pizza chain Hungry Howie’s. The same month it launched Gravity One, a millennial- and Gen Z-focused division led by five former Madwell executives including Charlie Smith and Devin Kharpertian.
Marketing Doctor is the second women-owned agency Gravity Global has acquired this year. Lozano said that Gravity Global makes acquisitions based on the work an agency does and their organizational fit, but added “there is a continued commitment to diversity in our organization.”
“Any opportunity we have to add an organization and leaders that add diversity of thought and diversity to our organization, we will absolutely jump two feet in,” he continued.
Backed by U.K.-based private equity firm Elysian Capital, Gravity Global has been on a deal-making streak. Lozano said the firm’s support has been pivotal: “They’re able to and willing to be creative in different manners, to pull something off that’s beneficial to the agency owner, and also good for our business.”
When asked about future deals, he said, “We are always open to acquisitions. We are almost always in dialog with other agencies.”