17/04/07

Two leading contract publishing agencies, Square One and Seven Customer Publishing, are joining forces to provide a new formula in customer magazines.

The combined company will adopt the name Seven Squared and the group will have total revenues of £30m, making it a top player in the fast-growing customer publishing sector.

Seven Squared clients will include some of the UK’s leading companies: Sainsbury’s, Coutts Bank, English Heritage, Fortnum & Mason, ASOS.com, Gala Coral, Alliance Boots, Norwich Union, RAC, Vision Express, Marks & Spencer, Waterstone’s and a growing portfolio of government departments including the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Mike Potter, Seven Chairman and former founder and Chief Executive of Redwood, said: “It’s an exciting time to be in customer publishing as more big businesses and brands look to magazines to build profitable relationships with their customers.”

“Square One is the most admired and also fastest-growing agency in the business with an impressive client portfolio. By joining forces we will harness the unique scale and reputation of our Sainsbury’s magazines to the energy and depth of Square One, providing clients with a new and genuinely different alternative.

“Seven Squared will be able to offer clients unrivalled advertising firepower, creative excellence, print-buying muscle, alongside publishing expertise that is best in class. The combination of the strengths in each business will create a new formula in customer publishing.”

Sean King, a director and co-founder of Square One, added: “This really is a case of the ‘whole is greater than the sum of the parts’. It’s about creating a business that has scale while also having the energy and enthusiasm that has helped us win 11 new clients in the past 12 months. It’s about combining the complementary skills and strengths in both businesses to give clients a new alternative to the top two or three agencies that have dominated the market for so long.

“Our existing clients will benefit from the advertising sales expertise of the Seven Group along with the buying power of a £30m business, while new clients will be attracted to the expertise across the combined company that will enable us to offer publishing solutions second to none.

“Seven Squared will also be perfectly positioned to develop its digital capability, providing clients with a full suite of content options. Magazines are, and will remain, our core business but we are living in a digital world and clients want and expect us to be able to provide them with a total content package, including video and audio as well as words.”  Seven has already made progress in this area, providing the content for Sainsbury’s Live TV.

Under the terms of the deal, Seven Publishing Group, whose major shareholders include the Guardian Media Group and Caledonian Private Equity, is acquiring all the shares of Square One but the existing shareholders of Square One become shareholders in the combined entity.