Four Acquires Culture & Campaigning Consultancy Colman Getty

Independent integrated communications agency, Four Communications Group plc, has acquired Culture & Campaigning consultancy, Colman Getty. Four has acquired 60% of the equity and shareholders including Dotti Irving, chief executive and Liz Sich, managing director, will retain 40%. The company will be renamed Four Colman Getty and will join Four Communications’ public relations, public affairs, digital services, sponsorship, media and marketing practices under the umbrella of the Four Communications Group plc and will move into the Group’s Leicester Square HQ in the coming weeks. 

Four Colman Getty will be the market leader in Culture & Campaigning in the UK with a combined annual fee income in excess of £3 million.  Its client list includes  The Man Booker Prize for Fiction, Library of Birmingham, RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Foyles, Jeffrey Archer, JK Rowling’s charity Lumos, Oxfam and the Duchess of Cambridge’s charity Action on Addiction among others.  Four Colman Getty will sit alongside the agency’s other specialist teams in property, financial services, public sector, sports, travel, education & transportation. Following the acquisition, the Four Communications Group will have total income of some £12 million.

Four Communications Group chief executive Nan Williams said: “The acquisition of Colman Getty is a tremendous step for the Four Communications Group. As well as our phenomenal organic growth since 2001, we are committed to an intelligent acquisition programme of top notch independent companies which are leaders in their field. The energy, heritage and passion of Colman Getty makes it one of the most impressive independent consultancies in the UK today. We are proud that it will become part of our Four family and thrilled to welcome the exceptional leaders of Colman Getty management to our senior management team.” 

Dotti Irving, chief executive of Colman Getty adds:

“After twenty five years of running Colman Getty, it has been a big decision to move into a bigger arena. We wanted to merge with Four because the people there have the same commitment to their clients and their people as we have at Colman Getty. 

As Four Colman Getty, we will be able to offer both staff and clients a much broader, deeper service. As part of an integrated, but still independent group, we can now offer critical new services like public affairs, design and media buying, all under one roof. We are hugely excited about the prospect of what we will achieve together in the future."

Colman Getty is recognised in the communications industry as the leading name in culture and campaigning PR. Now in its 25th, the agency will continue to be led by chief executive Dotti Irving and managing director Liz Sich. Dotti Irving will join the operating board of Four Communications Group plc. The consultancy has 36 staff. After the acquisition, Four Communications Group plc will have more than 150 staff in the UK and the Gulf.

Four Communications Group has offices in London, Liverpool and Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Muscat from which it operates right across the Gulf. Working with Four’s International managing director, Ray Eglington, Four Colman Getty will be developing a specialist cultural marketing brand in the region. Four Communications acquired leading travel and hospitality PR company bgb in 2011 and continues to explore further acquisitions.