MDC Partners and Crispin Porter + Bogusky today announced a major win for the network. MDC has acquired Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors—perhaps best known as the agency behind Volvo's "Epic Split" campaign—forming a "strategic global partnership" between the agency and CP+B.
Chuck Porter, chairman of CP+B, said the partnership makes sense because the two agencies share such a similar mindset when it comes to their work. "They only care about great work, and we share so much DNA they're like our twin who grew up in Sweden," Porter said in a statement. "This business always needs reinvention, and I think amazing things will come out of this partnership."
Moving forward, F&B will work closely with CP+B, assisting with global clients and opening up doors for CP+B to tap into some of the "most potent collection of creative talent in the world," Lori Senecal, global CEO of CP+B, said in a statement.
Founded in 1986 in Sweden, the agency has made a name for itself in the creative world crafting some of the most memorable and award-winning campaigns, most notably the "Epic Split" campaign for Vovlo starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. The campaign brought the agency high praise, which of course included a slew of industry awards from Best of Show at The One Show to a Grand Prix at Cannes.
Some of the agency's other notable work includes a campaign for If Insurance that inserted a child's voice into GPS navigators when a driver is approaching a spot where kids are likely to be, and a campaign for Ikea that brought a bit of personality to everyday, household items.
F&B's CEO Erik Sollenberg expressed his excitement at the chance to work with an agency as notable as CP+B. "CP+B is an agency with an astonishing legacy," he said in a statement. "An agency that has reshaped advertising, created ideas that infiltrate pop culture, and made each and every one of us want to stay in the office later and try a little bit harder. We are thrilled to join forces with CP+B to build something unique for global clients, and to partner with MDC, which has a proven record of valuing agency autonomy and creative ambition."
The 300-person company scored the title of most awarded agency in the world in 2014 by the Gunn Report and added to its award shelf last week. F&B won a PR Grand Prix at Cannes for "The Organic Effect" campaign for Swedish supermarket chain Coop, along with a Glass Lion, four gold Lions, two silver Lions and nine bronze Lions. The work also scored the agency awards at the International Andy Awards and Eurobest.