Brand specialist Freeman acquires UK consulting firm Comotion

Global professional services firm Freeman has announced the acquisition of Comotion Consulting for an undisclosed fee. The UK-based consultancy joins Freeman as the brand experience company looks to strengthen its transformation and talent solutions offerings.

Comotion Consulting aims to support clients in their efforts to become “customer-led”, as a new wave of agile competitors mean firms must double down on their customer experience efforts, to minimise the loss of their market share. The London-based consulting firm was founded in 2013, and works across a range of sectors to support businesses in the strategy, transformation and talent space. Among Comotion’s clients are Barclays, BBC Worldwide, Channel 4 and Telefonica. In the four years since its foundation, Comotion has built a reputation for delivering sophisticated and successful transformation programmes and projects for its clients under the two brands of Comotion Consulting and Talecco, the latter of which is a talent business supporting clients in the recruitment of permanent and interim resource in the customer and digital space.

Brand experience company Freeman works with clients to design, plan, and deliver immersive experiences for their most important audiences. The family-owned company is present in over 90 locations worldwide, with a headcount surpassing 7,000 — 2000 of whom are located outside the US — and as the firm works to enhance its holistic offering, it has been executing a sustained campaign of targeted acquisitions.

In 2017, this saw Freeman complete deals for San Franciscan design studio Helios Interactive, Toronto-based creative Production Company BaAM Productions, and Philadelphia-headquartered brand experience agency Fusion Brand Experiences, before the close of the year. In line with a similar trend which is seeing consulting firms branch into the advertising industry, Freeman’s activity demonstrates a determination within the consulting industry to muscle in on the brand experience scene to provide end to end services including strategy, creative, logistics, digital solutions, and event technology, to increase engagement and drive the business results of its clients. With the acquisition of Comotion, Freeman is seeking to bolster its strategy practice, delivered through the agency services of FreemanXP.

Commenting on the deal, Chris Preston, Freeman’s EMEA Managing Director, said, “As we look to serve our clients with more consultative services, the acquisition of Comotion strengthens our strategic offering here in EMEA, and around the world. The Comotion team will support our existing teams and clients in better understanding their customers, identifying market opportunities, setting directional strategies and translating this into customer-centric, brand experience-led solutions.”

Rob Millar, Managing Director, Comotion, added, “The acquisition of Comotion by Freeman validates our combined intention to build a business that is truly customer led in its client approach. We are excited to be joining the Freeman family and continuing to develop transformative solutions that help our clients.”