San Ramon, CA-based full-service agency AMF Media Group announced that it plans to expand its Golden State footprint with the acquisition of San Luis Obispo-based marketing and ad shop Barnett Cox & Associates.
The transaction, the financial terms of which were not publicly disclosed, is scheduled to close on January 1.
Central California’s BCA was launched in 1989 by husband and wife team Maggie Cox (president and CEO) and Dave Cox (executive VP and general manager). The agency, which focuses on PR, marketing, crisis and community engagement, counts Vista Regional Medical Center, Twin Cities Community Hospital, California Polytechnic State University and the California Mid-State Fair as clients.
 |
BCA will operate under the AMF banner in light of the acquisition. The agency’s physical office will remain, henceforth serving as AMF’s Central California location. Maggie Cox becomes president of that office, and Dave Cox holds the title of AMF vice president of operations.
The majority of BCA employees will join the AMF team, and there will be no immediate changes to the current staff structure.
|
|
Vintage FosterAMF CEO Vintage Foster told O’Dwyer’s that the deal introduces AMF to California’s Central Coast region (the agency maintains additional offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Jose, as well as a sixth location in Dallas). BCA also brings to the agency deep expertise in a range of industries including land-use and development, tourism, health care and education.
“AMF has done extremely well in Northern California and it’s finding itself expanding its client base south,” Foster told O’Dwyer’s. “One of our largest clients had been in Central California, so we wanted to expand our footprint and the strongest agency we knew of in Central California was Barnett Cox & Associates. They have a strong reputation in health care and in real estate, two critical areas for us. They also have a second-to-none reputation on the Central Coast, and that was important to us.”
AMF, which was founded in 2007, provides marketing and communications services with an emphasis on clients in the healthcare and food and beverage industries. Clients include Armanino, Blue Shield of California, the city of Concord, California, Satellite Healthcare and Kaiser Permanente.
4media group completes its acquisition of Family Features Editorial Syndicate... Illumination PR, which represents lifestyle brands, influencers and celebrities, launches DR Media Group... EAG Advertising and Marketing acquires pay-for-performance firm INK inc. Public Relations. 
LLYC launches Signs of Pride, a campaign that revives the original protest banners of the first Pride marches... The Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry forms the Public Relations and Digital Marketing Working Group... Circle of One Marketing, a Miami-based, minority-owned marketing agency, is named official agency of record for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami. 
Vogel Group, a DC-headquartered government affairs and consulting firm, forms a strategic partnership with Montreal-based public affairs firm Boléro Stratégies... Matter Communications launches project-based offerings for B2C companies looking to increase brand awareness and visibility... Tucker/Hall, a Tampa-based PR and public affairs firm, opens a new office in Orlando. 
Why investing in public relations is ultimately about building bridges in a connected world.
Edelman is laying off 330 people (5.3 percent of its workforce) to cope with an anticipated eight percent shortfall in 2024 US revenues, and client demand for one-stop shopping for speciality services.
