65 new jobs as Dublin digital agency Strategem is acquired by US firm
Strategem founder Keith Lee with Courtney Doyle of Connelly Partners. Image: Strategem

65 new jobs as Dublin digital agency Strategem is acquired by US firm

6 Apr 2018

Strategem to offer 65 new roles and be rebranded Connelly Partners (Dublin) following takeover.

Irish digital advertising agency Strategem is to create 65 new jobs in the wake of its acquisition by major US firm Connelly Partners.

Connelly Partners is the largest full-service independent advertising agency in the Boston and Greater New England region of the US.

‘The addition of 65 new jobs in the next three years will be across advertising and client services, web, data, tech, content and shopper marketing’
– KEITH LEE

Prior to the acquisition, both firms enjoyed a longstanding relationship.

Digital agency has data at its core

Connelly Partners, founded 18 years ago, employs 150 people in Boston and has a turnover of around $61m. Clients include American Express Travel, CIE Tours, Samsonite, Gorton’s Seafood, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, among others.

Strategem clients and brands include Bus Éireann Expressway, BWG Foods, Eurospar, Shannon Group, Diageo, University of Limerick, Tipperary County Council, Dundalk Credit Union and Our Lady’s Hospice.

The agency will be rebranded Connelly Partners (Dublin) and Keith Lee, founder of Strategem, will continue to head up the firm from its existing Irishtown offices, which will now act as a European hub. In addition, Courtney Doyle of Connelly Partners (Boston) has been appointed managing partner and will split her time between both locations.

“The addition of 65 new jobs in the next three years will be across advertising and client services, web, data, tech, content and shopper marketing,” Lee explained.

“Our approach to advertising has always been about human behaviour and what makes people buy into modern brands. Having vast amounts of data is useless unless you understand the humanity, what makes people tick and why they make the decisions they make.

“Bringing clients on a journey that provides real, tangible results and, crucially, return on investment, in a creative and technically advanced manner, is in our DNA. Having worked with Connelly Partners on a couple of projects already, we both quickly knew that we shared a similar set of objectives and a similar way of working,” Lee said.

He added that there will be a period of transition over the coming months as both agencies continue to merge their operations but, ultimately, the dual European and US locations will facilitate Irish clients keen to expand into the US, as well as US companies interested in the wider European markets.

Both companies operate in the transport, tourism, food and retail sectors.

“Connelly Partners is a people agency,” said Courtney Doyle. “We understand what’s happening around us, from a cultural, political and business perspective. We get what clients want to do, where they want to go, and we use great creativity and technology to deliver results. It’s that powerful mix that will make Connelly Partners (Dublin) a technology hub and launch pad into the UK and wider European markets.”

John Kennedy
By John Kennedy

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years. His interests include all things technological, music, movies, reading, history, gaming and losing the occasional game of poker.

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