Fishawack acquires creative marketing consultancy Blue Latitude Health

Fishawack is continuing to build out its U.S. footprint with this latest acquisition.

Alison Kanski

December 10, 2018

2:22 pm

Back row, L-R: Dominic Miller, Fred Bassett, Oliver Dennis; Front row L-R: Martin Brass, Gail Flockhart

Fishawack Group is building out its creative chops with the acquisition of Blue Latitude Health, it said on Monday.

Blue Latitude Health is based in New York and London, adding another U.S. office to U.K-based Fishawack. Blue Latitude, founded in 2003, has about 70 employees between its two offices, according to its LinkedIn account.

Blue Latitude MD Martin Brass will report to Oliver Dennis and Dominic Miller, CEO and COO of Fishawack, respectively. Blue Latitude will also retain its brand and name after the acquisition.

“We really needed to a bigger boat in order to continue our success,” Brass said. “We were growing at a speed that we could not service organically. About two years ago, we decided we were going to start a search for a partner. Most of the companies we talked to were frogs, but in Fishawack we found our prince.”

Gail Flockhart, group managing director of Fishawack, said the network aims to have a collaborative culture that sets it apart from other holding companies.

“The way we’ve gone about this is we’re designing the business for collaboration,” she said. “That sets us apart from some of the big networks that were not designed to collaborate, with separate units and P&Ls. Because we have a culture of collaborating, and we designed it this way, we don’t have those barriers to working together.”

The companies are not disclosing the deal’s financial details. No layoffs are expected from the acquisition.

Blue Latitude has worked with major pharma companies including Pfizer, Baxter, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly, along with health systems such as Nuffield Health and industry groups like the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, according to its website.

Last year, Fishawack acquired Carling Group, which includes Carling Communications and medical education shop MCME Global. The goal of the deal was to expand Fishawack’s footprint into the U.S. and add creative talent to the firm.

Fishawack has two divisions, a medical communications unit and a creative group. The group restructured into the two divisions last month to provide more clarity to clients about its offerings. The firm has four offices in the U.K, two in the U.S., and locations in Switzerland and India.

This story was updated on December 13 with additional details.