Lippincott buys San Francisco firm Bonfire Communications

Global branding firm Lippincott has acquired Bonfire Communications, a U.S. agency that specialises in employee engagement and internal communications. As part of the deal, all of the roughly 20 consultants of Bonfire Communications will join Lippincott’s San Francisco office.

Bonfire Communications was founded by Gordon Rudow in 2000, and is based in San Francisco. Over the past 14 years the firm has grown steadily, to its current team of 20 consultants. The HR consulting firm specialises in among others leadership alignment & development, employee communications, talent management and employee engagement.

Lippincott is a global branding firm, part of Oliver Wyman, a global management consultancy with offices in 50+ cities across 25 countries. Lippincott supports clients with a wide range and marketing, branding and HR services, including Brand Strategy, Design and Expression, Experience Innovation and Organisational Engagement.

Complementary services
In a press release Lippincott gives two main reasons for its acquisition of Bonfire Communications. Firstly, since it started its operations in San Francisco in 2012 the firm has grown steadily, yet the transaction enables Lippincott to in line with its strategy accelerate its growth and footprint in the region, regarded as an attractive market for consulting firms. Secondly, the bundling of expertise from both firms will according to Rick Wise, CEO of Lippincott, benefit service quality and delivery to clients. “Bonfire’s proven methodologies, impressive track record and deep understanding of organizational and behavioral theory, will help bolster our Organizational Engagement practice and enhance our overall ability to deliver lasting and meaningful results for our clients.”

The employees of Bonfire Communications.

As part of the acquisition, all Bonfire employees will transition to Lippincott and Gordon Rudow, CEO of Bonfire, will serve as Senior Partner and report into Lippincott CEO Wise. “Bonfire and Lippincott share a vision of creating a new kind of agency that builds great brands and exceptional companies that attract and retain the best people,” says Rudow. “We’re excited to put leadership and employee engagement front and center of the brand conversation, and to help our clients achieve authentic, sustainable differentiation.”