Omnicom Buys Rest of Critical Mass

Calgary, Canada-based marketing agency Critical Mass is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Omnicom, following a November buy-out. Omnicom has been 50 percent owner since 1999.

Critical Mass CEO Dianne Wilkins (pictured) will move to New York, but the firm's headquarters are likely to remain at the Canadian site where it employs 250. The agency, which was founded in 1995 and now has more than 700 people in eight full-service offices worldwide, puts a strong focus on customer feedback and experience, and in 2009 opened a multi-channel measurement group focused on gathering insights, and a research division called Curious. This year, it has hired a number of senior execs for US offices (New York, Chicago and LA), and merged its London office with Omnicom's Agency Republic.

Wilkins told www.marketingmag.ca the move 'potentially opens up more collaboration opportunities with other Omnicom agencies', and may lead to investment in growing Critical Mass.'

An Omnicom spokeswoman said: 'Critical Mass is a highly successful global digital marketing agency with a strong management team led by Dianne Wilkins, a digital veteran. They are an important asset to our portfolio of agencies and work with many of our top clients around the world.'

Web site: www.criticalmass.com .