30 Jul 2008 0641H

Brulant + Rosetta: crazy delicious?

Well, not quite. Since the dotcom days, I have always been somewhat suspicious of firms that have grown by merger and acquisition. In those days, rolling up firms for their assets and clients seemed to be the predominant exit strategy, and all the equity built up by the talent within went for naught as they found themselves made redundant. I’m sure these lessons were not lost on Len (Pagon, CEO of Brulant) since he’s taken a cautious approach towards cultural goodness-of-fit and due diligence in the M&A with Xteric and Emergent, with which they worked for years, but the lack of patience for growing a firm organically still admittedly played a small role in my decision to leave. The growth targets sooner or later would have had to take the company to one of the two coasts, and given proximity and the numbers of clients on the east coast this seemed inevitable. I would say that as a former Brulanteer that it will be difficult to say what is coming next. I’d be cautiously optimistic. 

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3 responses to "Brulant + Rosetta: crazy delicious?"

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30 Jul 2008 0923H

Adam Cohen writes:

Hey Gene,
I totally understand the cautious optimism. There is a negative connotation in general associated with M&A and how that can impact the culture, job security and execution for any company. The major factors that I am encouraged by for this particular one are:
1) the complementary services of Rosetta to Brulant’s clients, roots and core services (and vice versa)
2) the mutual prior experience of both companies going through acquisitions
3) The value proposition of both companies combined - I’ve already seen it in action.
Lots of work to do to make this a smooth transition and a success, no doubt. I think it has a good shot especially while remaining an independent firm - a huge plus based on what I’ve heard from friends at some of the major conglomerates in the industry.
Thanks for commenting about the acquisition and I hope to report back with future successes.
Best,
Adam

30 Jul 2008 0935H

Gino writes:

Hey Adam,
Naturally, I think the things to be cautious about are the same that plague a lot of firms like “ours”: integration of the different service offerings, the creative/marketing, the user experience, the development, the strategy crews, not just within the org but also now with the other firm. Then too there was the fact that we had a long engagement with Xteric, which we spawned, and Emergent; did we have one with Rosetta? And so we’ll see once the honeymoon is over how well the pieces fit. But overall I do think that there are important complements that play to each firm’s strengths and thus this deal makes lots of sense.

30 Jul 2008 1252H

Paul writes:

Hi Gene. Having lived through the last acquisition first hand, I believe the main thing that made the eMergent Marketing deal so successful was the focus on the service integration and the enhanced value we could provide to the clients.

That could not be more true of the Rosetta deal as well. The collective value we will be able to deliver to our clients will truly be unique and world class. Stay tuned for very exciting and groundbreaking work.

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