Whitewater merges with The Direct Marketing Group

Howard Lake | 5 June 2007 | News

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• Consulting & Agencies

Direct marketing agency Whitewater Creative Services, the fundraising and nonprofit sector specialists, merged yesterday with The Direct Marketing Group (previously known as The Millennium Group).

Whitewater was originally established as a design business in 1987. Following a management buy out in 2000, with Claire Page and Steve Andrews becoming the majority shareholders, the agency expanded its services.

With assistance from Results International, the corporate finance advisor in the marketing communications industry, it began identifying an appropriate partner to help it continue its growth. The Direct Marketing Group, a full service direct marketing group, was chosen “both in terms of the growth potential and cultural compatibility”.

Whitewater’s specialisation in charity direct marketing will help complement DMG’s existing direct marketing presence, and Whitewater will benefit from DMG’s centralised resources, commitment to consumer research and insight, data management, print buying power, media buying and digital capabilities.

Whitewater, headed by Chairman and Managing Director Steve Andrews, will continue to operate under its own name, under the umbrella of DMG.

Writing on the agency’s corporate blog, Andrews added that the merger will offer Whitewater “an unrivaled understanding and segmentation model of the 50+ market, so essential for charities… [and] enormous print buying power, meaning cheaper prices for our clients.”

Following the merger, will have a total of 300 staff, and a turnover of £45 million. It is headed by Martin Smith as Group Managing Director.

Keith Hunt, Managing Partner Corporate Finance at Results International, said: “We have worked on behalf of Whitewater over the past 11 months assessing a range of potential partners. Their merger with The Direct Marketing Group means joining other strong players in direct marketing who all share a common commitment to outstanding service and product innovation; we’re confident the deal will prove rewarding to all agencies.”

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.