Quad/Graphics Lands Periscope in $132.5M Purchase

Come early 2019, Quad/Graphics Inc., already renowned as a leading marketing solutions provider, will add to its clout through the addition of Periscope, with theSussex, Wisconsin-headquartered business having acquired the Minneapolis-based independent creative agency for $132.5 million last week...

We are excited to welcome @Periscope, a leading creative agency, into the Quad family. This business combination will create a highly efficient global platform for creating marketing campaigns & programs across all media channels for our clients. https://t.co/oxzmQxsCUP pic.twitter.com/owuq4wv0xV

— Quad (@QuadGraphics) November 27, 2018

Printing Impressions and Adweek noted that the transaction should close not long after the new year commences. Once it does, the buyer will enlist Periscope to assist its burgeoning enthusiasm for buying, design services and media planning endeavors, which will complement its successful commercial printing track record. Set to operate as one entity and to share all clients, the two will look to create what Printing Impressions, our sister publication, dubs “a highly efficient global platform for creating marketing campaigns and programs—from strategy and creative through execution—across all media channels.”

“With Periscope, we will create a truly integrated, end-to-end marketing platform that we believe will create more value than the traditional siloed agency approach that exists today,” Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics’ chairman, president and CEO, said of the purchase. “Periscope will turbo-charge our existing offering with its world-class capabilities in strategy, including media buying and analytics, creative and account management.”

His company is also hoping to call on Periscope’s packaging design and pre-media services to complement its print-production capabilities. In doing so, Periscope will find itself “…partnering with the substantial number of brands in Quad’s portfolio,” according to President and CEO Elizabeth Ross, whose team will join her at their buyer early next year.

The combination of Quad/Graphics—which next year will also close on a deal to add LSC Communications—and Periscope will pair two businesses that have 71 years of service between them. The former accounts for 47 of those years, during which it has come to rely on employees in Europe and North and South America. The latter—the employer of more than 500—has depended on its workforce to helm offices in five locations, including sites in Delhi and Hong Kong. All five of Periscope’s spots will remain open, and the acquired business will retain its individual brand.

“Our companies share a common vision for the future of integrated marketing and operate with very similar values,” Periscope’s Chairman and Owner Bill Simpson commented. “Quad’s 3.0 strategy mirrors Periscope’s vision for an end-to-end solution, but on a much larger scale. The result of this business combination will be tremendous growth opportunities for our people, Periscope and Quad, and provide significant additional value for our clients. I’m excited to see what can be accomplished together.”