Channel clients “need more from agencies like us”, Revere CEO Fiona McKenzie said as she opened up on its decision to sell up to US peer Marketbridge and her own personal plans.
Counting Westcoast, Giacom, Avanade, Advania, Lenovo and Samsung among its clients, 52-employee Revere is one of the UK’s largest IT channel-focused marketing agencies.
It yesterday announced it will join forces with 300-employee US-based “integrated growth consulting and marketing firm” Marketbridge, with the Revere brand being dropped as soon as January.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, McKenzie said Revere’s sale chimes with the tech agency world’s “direction of travel”.
“What the channel needs from marketing agencies is shifting,” she said.
“You have a real split in the channel. Some are marketing-led, and those are the organisations we tend to partner with, where you have an engaged C-suite and we’re working directly with the marketing teams to drive that connected growth strategy.
“People need more from agencies like ours – they need those deep specialisms in data and analytics to really offer that kind of growth service.”
“We didn’t rush into it”
Having headed up Revere since 2021, McKenzie is one of four Revere execs who owned a minority stake in the business, and will now take a shareholding in Marketbridge.
Revere’s two largest shareholders – who despite owning 75% of the business had no exec involvement – have exited as part of the sale.
McKenzie revealed that Revere had had conversations with “many” potential suitors.
“About a year ago, it felt like the right time to start exploring Revere’s next step,” she explained.
“I always felt the best fit would be a US agency that was looking to expand into Europe that would be like-minded in terms of cultural fit.
“We were in a fortunate position that we had enough choice that we were able to take our time. We didn’t rush into it and did a lot of reverse diligence across a number of organisations.
“Marketbridge just came out on top, for all the right reasons. They have a very strong consulting side to their organisation, alongside what you’d see as the standard agency services.
“I think we’re going to see a lot of change from agencies that support tech brands over the next couple of years, because it’s much more around how you meet clients’ growth objectives.”
“I’m not going anywhere”
McKenzie said she favoured a “quick integration” (the Revere brand will only remain until 31 December 2025), based partly on her experiences helping clients with their brand integrations.
“Going into a new platform that was maybe more of a house of brands, with different P&Ls – I’ve seen challenges with other organisations,” she said.
The prospect of the Revere brand ending so abruptly caused a “few tears” among the team, McKenzie acknowledged.
“But actually there was celebration because the reason it’s happening is because we’ve built something special,” she said.
“It’s been an extremely volatile, tough market for marketing agencies over the last three to four years. If you don’t genuinely believe in the value marketing can provide growth initiatives, the first thing that gets cut is marketing – and actually organisations should be doing the opposite.
“But we’ve continued to win new clients and sustain our client relationships amid a lot of budget turmoil.”
McKenzie said Revere’s sale is designed to provide her, her exec team and the wider team a new home “that will allow us to continue to grow”.
“It doesn’t fit into the mould of the majority shareholder getting their big payout and then leaving,” she said.
“The first question quite a few of the long-standing clients asked was: ‘are you going?’,” McKenzie added.
“The answer was, ‘no, I’m not going anywhere’.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
