Marketing agency Underwired has been acquired from Amaze owner Hasgrove by its management team on undisclosed terms.
The firm, co-founded by Felix Velarde and Jason Holland, specialises in Electronic Customer Relationship Marketing (eCRM). Its clients include ASICS, Sony, Harveys Furniture, Bupa, Hodder & Stoughton, Eurocamp & Keycamp Holidays and AAR.
Amaze and Underwired will continue to share offices in Dean Street, Soho.
Felix Velarde is a pioneer in the industry having started one of the first web agencies, HyperInteractive, in 1994, and appeared in the Cream Top 100 Innovators list in 2010. Velarde commented:
“Underwired had a spectacularly good year in 2011, increasing turnover by 37% over 2010 with some fantastic wins including Sony, Harveys and Bupa. Underwired has a robust position as the UK’s leading eCRM and digital strategy specialist, and we deliver multinational campaigns for ASICS and Sony Entertainment Networks.
“Our plans include increasing the number of agency and technology partnerships, so we can give clients smarter customer engagement programmes. We have developed a new strategic consultancy around contextualising Social CRM, and now the MBO has been completed we are in a position to invest heavily in this and other areas over the next 12 months. We have a very smart team which we are in the process of expanding, and with a number of significant wins already I believe 2012 will be another fantastic year.”
Underwired.com