Minneapolis branding agency
OLSON announced this week that it's acquired
Denali Marketing, the fast-growing loyalty marketing firm
we wrote about last week.
Denali Marketing helps companies manage customer loyalty programs, including Best Buy's Reward Zone and Sun Country's Ufly Rewards.
OLSON has been interested in developing or acquiring loyalty expertise for a few years, and about six months ago started a nationwide search for a partner.
"Sometimes you don't know what's in your own backyard until you scour the country," said OLSON President Kevin DiLorenzo, who has been
named the new agency's CEO.
The combination of OLSON and Denali creates a 300-person agency, the largest full-service ad agency in Minnesota with
clients that include some of the state's biggest brands (Target, Best Buy, Sun Country, General Mills, Land O'Lakes).
And instead of reducing employees, as is common following many mergers and acquisitions, DiLorenzo said they plan to add about 50 new hires as they combine.
DiLorenzo said Denali's culture and client roster are both complimentary to OLSON's business. There's also connections and familiarity among management teams, he said.
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"Joining forces with Denali is a very good fit for us, and the fact that they happened to be here in our own backyard makes integration issues much more seamless and easy to manage for us," DiLorenzo said.
Source: Kevin DiLorenzo, OLSON
Writer:
Dan Haugen