Foviance acquires Seren to form agency powerhouse
eGaming Review's exclusive product and games reviewer merges with Seren Partners to create industry's largest service design agency.
User experience and analytics consultancy Foviance Group, eGaming Review’s exclusive product and games reviewers, has acquired Seren Partners to create one of the industry’s largest service design agencies.
The business will trade under the Seren brand with all 70 employees based from its Shoreditch offices from September 17.
The newly merged business boasts a client list including Barclays, Vodafone, Microsoft, Everything Everywhere, Camelot, O2, Sky, as well as 18 gaming companies including Ladbrokes and will be led Ben Langdon.
“It will re-invent gaming companies’ cross channel customer journeys, Catriona Campbell, Foviance’s founding partner responsible for research and international growth, told eGR.
Craig Hepburn, Nokia’s head of digital and social media, who has spoken and attended a number of eGR’s Power 50 events in the UK, called the merger “a match made in heaven”.
“[These are] two great suppliers who design amazing experiences and provide world-class research and insight will now offer their services in one agency, making deeper integration and my life easier”, he added.
The merged company will continue to offer its clients a full range of design services including research, product and service design, app development, customer experience design, analytics, and design innovation.
In a statement the business said it had also begun to offer an “entirely new design discipline”, functional branding which, it says, delivers “truly differentiated and profitable customer experiences”.
Commenting on the decision to merge the two businesses, Campbell called the move a “natural fit”.
“Our scientific customer research and analytics skills, combined with Seren’s design skills make a compelling proposition for clients.”
Terry Heath, founder of Seren Partners, added: “This was a merger waiting to happen. Unlike all other agencies, we design amazing brand experiences based on objective research and insight. Then we deliver the experiences across all touchpoints. Finally, we prove that our ideas work in the real world. We’ve re-invented branding.”
The company’s management team will be:
Ben Langdon, CEO, with responsibility for overall financial performance
Terry Heath, founding partner, responsible for the creative and consulting teams
Ellen Jones, founding partner, responsible for people, culture and integration
Catriona Campbell, founding partner, responsible for research and International growth
Chris Saul, client services director, responsible for revenue growth from existing clients
Richard Sedley, strategy director, responsible for growth from new clients
The company’s board will be chaired by Philip Hunt.