MINNEAPOLIS, April 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Stable, a leading consumer brand agency known for launching brands such as quip, Ring, and Califia Farms into Target and Amazon, today announced that it is merging with Arkansas based retail agency Kreative Sales & Marketing. The combination will help create a leading commerce agency built for consumer brands seeking to leverage brick and mortar, eCommerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. The combined offering will include full-service retail strategy, representation, channel management, social & digital marketing, creative and product development services.
The Stable, which was founded in 2015 and whose mission is to reinvent the retail agency model has been hard at work; growing its employee base to 65+ people and building in-house sales, operations, media and creative capabilities to support its impressive roster of brand partners. Chances are you have not walked through a Target store, discovered an item online, or seen a product trending on Instagram without the support of agencies like The Stable or Kreative.
“We have built a commerce and content engine that has enabled challenger brands to efficiently reach their consumer and scale, regardless of the channel or platform,” said The Stable’s CEO, Chad Hetherington. “But with that, we found ourselves missing one crucial channel in that strategy for our brand partners: Walmart.”
The merger with Kreative will help strengthen the combined platform’s retail footprint, while significantly expanding digital and product development capabilities.
Kreative was founded in 2008 with a vision to deliver innovative, value driven solutions for brands, retailers and consumers. Service offerings include product development, retail representation, analytical strategy and operation excellence for consumer brands at some of the top retailers in the world.
“As Walmart, Target, Costco and Amazon continue to dominate the retail landscape, the opportunity to partner with The Stable and GCP and be part of that overall ecosystem is very exciting for our team and our client partners”, says Robert Schiederer, Founder of Kreative.
This deal was completed with financial support from GCP, a middle market growth equity firm that invests in information, marketing and tech-enabled services businesses. GCP’s investment and deep sector experience will help expand existing capabilities and continue to explore new M&A opportunities to help bolster The Stable’s differentiated cross-platform offering.
“The combination of The Stable and Kreative creates a next-generation, omni-channel offering for consumer brands looking to achieve scale across key retail partners such as Walmart, Target, Costco and Amazon,” said James O’Callaghan, Principal of GCP. “We are excited to make the announcement official and look forward to working with the team to expand the service offering and further accelerate The Stable’s growth.”
This deal will bring the combined company employee base to 100+ with offices in Minneapolis, Bentonville, Seattle, and Austin. To learn more about The Stable and Kreative, visit www.thestable.com & www.kreative-group.com.
About The Stable
The Stable is a fully integrated consumer brand agency helping businesses activate across all channels of commerce, with offices in Minneapolis, Seattle & Austin. To learn more about The Stable, please visit www.thestable.com.
About Kreative
Kreative is a Bentonville, Arkansas based sales and marketing firm that helps CPG brands launch and manage their business at Walmart, Sam’s Club & Costco. To learn more about Kreative, please visit www.kreative-group.com.
About Growth Catalyst Partners
Growth Catalyst Partners ("GCP") is a middle market growth equity firm focused on information, marketing and tech-enabled services businesses. GCP’s strategy involves targeting growth segments of industries and identifying market leading companies with breakout potential. GCP partners with top executives within those industries and provides capital and expertise to the incumbent management teams of the targeted businesses. GCP was founded by veteran private equity investor Jim TenBroek and leading investment banker Scott Peters, who have led hundreds of transactions and successful investments in services businesses for over 20 years. For more information, visit www.growthcatalystpartners.com.
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Praytell Agency
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