Leeds PR company acquired by national agency group

Audience Collective acquired Leeds and London operational The Lucre Group in addition to six other independent agencies within the Collective.

Other acquisitions include brand communications agency, Ponderosa; market research and insight agency, Spark; and digital media strategy house, Crunch.

The group now comprises over 160 specialists, and works with more than 240 organisations and brands in a range of sectors, including FMCG, Higher Education, Travel, and Food and Drink. Over that period, group revenue has increased by over 175 per cent.

Steve Henry, Group CEO at The Audience Collective, said: “We’re delighted to welcome The Lucre Group onboard as we enter the next stage of growth. When we originally formed the group in 2019, we knew we were missing one key service offering, and that was PR.

“We have an incredibly strong vision for the future and ambitious plans to match. Within five years, we aim to be a £100m business operating in over 50 markets, with offices in five countries and we felt that Lucre’s values, and forward-thinking, ambitious nature matched our own.

“Their client base speaks for itself and with a highly talented group of individuals, the agency is a great fit. Lucre’s dedicated content arm – RICH – also offers an exciting proposition for all of the agencies in the Collective.”

Tamarind Wilson-Flint and Sophie Spyropoulos, owner directors at The Lucre Group, added: “We first launched our agency 16 years ago with Jet2, one of the UK’s leading airlines, which is still a client today.

“Accompanying our travel sector expertise, we developed our portfolio across food & drink, home & lifestyle, and tech & professional services industries, and are proud to offer our search-savvy expertise to some of the UK’s best-known brands, such as PizzaExpress, Park Plaza hotels, and Berkeley Homes.

“We’re delighted to join the Collective and we’re very much looking forward to the next exciting chapter in the Lucre story.”