UK media consultancy ID Comms launches stateside
ID Comms, a British headquartered consultancy specialising in media and advertising, has announced it will launch a new office in New York. The move comes after a succession of major contracts with brands including Mars, Puma and GSK in the US.
Launching operations in the US represents a major hurdle for UK-based consultancies looking to reach the next stage in growth. While it can prove costly and logistically challenging, however, the potential benefits which access to the world’s largest consulting economy can yield represents a tantalising incentive for the majority of new firms in Britain.
The latest firm to take the plunge across the Atlantic is ID Comms, a UK-based media and advertising consultancy. The group is set to open a dedicated outpost in New York City, which will serve US-based chief marketing officers, media directors and procurement executives. The office in one of the world’s leading financial hubs will be led by co-founder Tom Denford, who will assume the position of North America chief executive.
ID Comms specialises in assisting the world’s leading advertisers with the ideas, knowledge and networking opportunities which can give marketers an edge on a crowded industry in the digital age. Following ID Comms’ handling of a number of global and North American media reviews, which saw the company advise for LVMH, Mars, HSBC, Puma and GSK in 2018 alone and led to a combined media investment of more than $1 billion in the US, the firm has decided that now is the time to set up shop stateside.
Denford has relocated from ID Comms’ London base, and is currently recruiting media experts to work in the New York office, offering advertisers media auditing, capability assessments, agency pitches, agency relationship management and agency performance evaluations. At the same time, fellow ID Comms co-founder David Indo – a former Media Director at Nike – will remain in the UK to take on the role of group chief executive.
Denford said of the new US launch, “The US is the world’s most important media market and I am excited by the interest shown in ID Comms and the demand from major advertisers for our specialist consulting services. A lot of progress has been made to upgrade media thinking in the US, notably by the ANA, and we look forward to working with US marketing leaders to ensure they gain competitive advantage from media.”
Indo added, “The North American market provides us with an incredible opportunity not only to grow our business geographically by establishing an operation in New York, but also to innovate and evolve our offering in line with the demands and challenges of some of the most ambitious advertisers in the world.”
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