Washington-based Bully Pulpit Interactive, a Democrat-aligned digital marketing shop, has acquired The Incite Agency, the PR agency of former Obama administration communications hands Robert Gibbs and Ben LaBolt.
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Ben Laboit |
Seven-year-old Bully Pulpit, which has outposts in Chicago and New York, was backed by Chicago private equity firm Svoboda Capital Partners in the deal.
BPI president Andrew Bleeker said the move is the firm's first in a bid to become "first chair" counselor to clients.
LaBolt, a former press secretary for Obama in the Senate and national press secretary for the president's 2012 re-election, takes a partner role with BPI alongside its five founding partners as the firms plan to integrate starting in the fall through 2017. Gibbs left Incite last year to head communications for McDonald's.
BPI has worked with the Democratic Party, World Food Programme, Alliance for Climate Protection, Exelon, VF Corp. and Royal Bank of Canada.
Bleeker and LaBolt wrote about the acquisition on Medium, noting:
"We are trying a new approach. Instead of joining a traditional agency — and we both had the opportunity to do so — we are building something new. Digital is the new foundation that connects the various silos and channels of marketing and communications.
"We believe teams will be more successful by adding specific skills and services to a solid digital strategic base than the alternative. We believe that organizations are most likely to succeed by communicating a unified message across divisions and channels."
AdMedia Partners advised the transaction.
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