TBWA Worldwide is extending its Tequila marketing services unit – already present in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East – into North America by merging its interactive arm with the direct marketing operations of Omnicom Group sibling Direct Partners.
Tequila’s new outpost will initially have three offices in New York, Toronto and Playa del Rey (California), employ 130 staffers and handle billings of $300 million (€302m; £194m). In charge will be president/ceo Wes Nichols, co-founder of Direct.
Designed to bolster TBWA’s below-the-line offerings, the move brings Tequila’s worldwide billings to around $1 billion and staff to about 1000.
According to Nichols, the next stage in Tequila’s expansion will be using acquisitions to build promotional marketing capabilities and move into Central and South America.
Data sourced from: AdWeek.com; additional content by WARC staff
