Activate Marketing Services has been sold to Next 15 Communications Group

Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips’ client, Activate Marketing Services, a B2B demand generation company based in San Francisco and New York, has been sold to Next Fifteen Communications Group (AIM:NFC), a publicly traded digital media company that offers digital communications, public relations and investor relations services worldwide. This acquisition enables Activate Marketing Services to boost the rapid growth it has experienced in the last 5+ years, by combining buyer insights with content messaging to engage prospects for their B2B technology clients.

By partnering with a broad portfolio of companies under the Next 15 umbrella, Activate will continue to widen its demand gen portfolio of innovative products, while adding new solutions that deliver unprecedented engagement and faster revenue for its customers.

In a joint statement, Martha Schwartz, President at Activate, and Ed Grossman, CEO at Activate, said: “We are extremely excited to be joining Next 15 and are looking forward to leverage the synergies between Activate and Next 15 to the benefit of our technology customers. Next 15 is at the forefront of B2B Tech marketing and their belief in data, technology and content is fundamentally aligned with our strategy. We are looking forward to this next chapter for Activate.”

Activate will add demand generation capability to the Next 15 group, complementing Next 15’s existing ABM and marketing solutions businesses. Tim Dyson, CEO at Next 15, explained: “Next 15’s strategy is to build and buy data and technology-driven businesses that enable companies to do world class marketing. Activate very much fits into that strategy by using a mix of data and technology to deliver high value, qualified sales leads to its clients. This product set fits alongside our other sales engagement products from Agent3 and Twogether. Couple this with the quality of the leadership team at Activate and you have a great addition to the Next 15 Group.”

Activate’s current senior management, including Ed Grossman, Co-Founder and CEO, and Martha Schwartz, Co-Founder and President, will remain with the business after the acquisition. Following the acquisition, Activate will continue to operate as an independent brand as part of the Next 15 Network.

About Activate Marketing Services: Activate Marketing Services combines deep buyer insights with a content-led marketing methodology to engage prospects and convert them to customers. Through its unique, tested methodology Activate is able to accelerate the buying process for its clients.

About Next 15 Communications Group: Next 15 is a communications business that employs over 1,800 people across 56 offices in 14 countries, incorporating 17 subsidiary agencies spanning digital content, marketing, PR, consumer, technology, marketing software, market research, public affairs and policy communications.