Edinburgh digital agency Ambergreen bought by DAC Group

The firm, co-founded in 2001 by chief executive Tino Nombro and product and development director Grant Whiteside, has been acquired by DAC Group, one of the largest independent digital media agencies in North America.

The purchase price was not disclosed but is understood to represent a multi-million pound deal for Ambergreen, which counts luxury chocolate retailer Hotel Chocolat and professional services group PwC among its clients.

Industry sources said it also marks the first major takeover of a Scottish digital agency since Edinburgh’s Bigmouthmedia was acquired by Dutch group Lost Boys International in 2009.

Nombro said: “Having established Ambergreen in 2001, we have been at the leading edge of digital marketing from the beginning.

“For the past two years, we have been developing our business by making improvements to our breadth and depth of client solutions in response to ongoing changes in the digital landscape. DAC’s technology is uniquely positioned to take advantage of local ecosystems for national brands.”

Ambergreen was named digital agency of the year at the ScotlandIS Digital Technology Awards in April.

DAC Group chief executive and managing partner Norm Hagarty said: “Our primary focus at DAC Group is helping national brands, who have a distributed sales network of stores or locations and where sales at the regional or local level are critical to success, build an effective presence to drive results.

“As we expand internationally we want to partner with agencies who deeply understand and appreciate that philosophy. That’s why this is a very exciting development for us and one which I am personally delighted about. We have been talking to Ambergreen for some time and very much respect the work they do for their clients and the talent they continue to develop as an agency. The cultural fit for both businesses was the winning piece of the jigsaw.”

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