Crosby Acquires Production Company

Annapolis, MD-based agency Crosby Marketing Communications has unveiled a new multimedia content division, the result of the firm's recent acquisition of production company Butler Films.

Annapolis-based Butler has served clients such as Discovery Communications, National Geographic, CarMax, GE and Capital One, as well as a variety of healthcare and nonprofits. The 20-year-old company is led by director David Butler, who holds an Emmy, Addy and Telly, as well as having PRSA and Clio awards to his credit.

In light of the acquisition, Crosby has integrated its creative, social and digital teams into a new multimedia content division, with Butler named vice president of multimedia production. He’ll lead an in-house team capable of creating TV spots, PSAs, short films, video series, social media assets, webcasts and multimedia presentations out of Crosby’s 20,000-square-foot headquarters.

Crosby Marketing Communications president Ray Crosby (L) with Crosby multimedia production VP David Butler.

Crosby president Raymond Crosby told O’Dwyer’s that the decision to acquire an existing production company as opposed to creating a new practice from the ground up allows the agency to begin providing a suite of internal multimedia capabilities for clients in one fell swoop, as opposed to doing so slowly over time.

Crosby also noted that his agency has had a long working relationship with Butler, having collaborated with the company for the last 15 years.

 “The whole driver behind this was the need to deliver creative storytelling across every media channel, but with an agility that maximizes our ability to meet the rapid-fire pace of the world we’re living in,” Crosby told O’Dwyer’s. “With David, we’ve got a great leader who can drive this whole division and who’s got an amazing reel, strong industry contacts, and who already knows our organization and will be able to seamlessly connect with them.”

Crosby, which specializes in marketing programs for healthcare, government and nonprofits, grew by nearly 22 percent last year, with more than $12.2 million in 2016 net fees, according to O’Dwyer’s rankings of PR firms.