W2O Group
W2O Group is a holding company based in San Francisco, California that provides marketing services through its subsidiaries. It was founded by Jim Weiss in 2001 and originally named WeissComm Partners.
Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Marketing |
Founded | 2001 |
Headquarters | San Francisco |
Number of locations | 15[1] |
Key people | Jim Weiss, Chairman & Dimundo CEO Jennifer Gottlieb, President[2] |
Revenue | $177.57 million (2019)[3] |
Number of employees | 718 (2019)[3] |
Website | Official website |
Corporate history
W2O Group was founded as WeissComm Partners in 2001 by Jim Weiss as a one-person marketing consulting firm, with clients primarily in the healthcare industry.[4][5] His firm grew quickly until 2008. According to Weiss, less favorable conditions in the healthcare industry led to a series of layoffs.[4]
In response, the following year Weiss acquired creative services firm ODA and social media marketing firm, Common Sense Media Group, in order to diversify his interests and reduce reliance on the healthcare industry.[4][5] That same year, Weiss re-formed the company under the acronym WCG, consolidating the two acquisitions under a new corporate umbrella.[6][7] The acquired companies and the firm's revenues continued growing.[4][5] By 2011 it had annual revenues of $48 million.[5]
In 2012, WCG was re-structured again under a new holding company called W2O Group, which was made up of three companies: WCG, W2O Ventures, and Twist Mktg.[7][8] The fourth company in the holding group, Brewlife, was formed the following year to focus on startup companies.[9] The holding group had $75 million in annual revenues by 2013[10] and $82.6 million in 2014.[11] In 2014 and 2015, W2O opened new offices in major U.S. and European cities.[12]
In May 2016, a private-equity firm called Mountaingate Capital made an investment in W2O Group, which funded a series of acquisitions.[13] Seven months after acquiring Fox Communications, W2O Group laid off founder Lynn Fox, who sued alleging gender discrimination.[14][15][16]
In June 2019, New Mountain capital acquired an interest in W2O Group for an undisclosed amount.[17][18]
Acquisitions
Date | Company | Description | References |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | ODA | Creative services | [4] |
2009 | Common Sense Media Group | Social media marketing firm | [4] |
2012 | Ravel | Data analytics; based in Austin | [5] |
2012 | VM Foundry | Web and mobile development; based in Austin | [19] |
2015 | ARC2 Communications & Media | Boutique public relations firm; based in Los Angeles | [11] |
2015 | Vintank | Social media and CRM software company | [20] |
2016 | Pure Communications | Marketing consultancy | [13][21] |
2016 | Marketeching Solutions | Social listening | [13][22] |
2017 | Sentient Interactive | digital media and analytics | [13] |
Operations and services
W2O Group is a holding company whose subsidiaries provide marketing services to healthcare and technology companies.[5] The holding company operates through five subsidiaries: WCG, Twist, Pure, Sentient and Marketeching.[23] WCG is the public relations arm. As of 2012, it was responsible for about 80 percent of the company's revenue.[6] Twist is a 50-person division that initially served largely as a conflict and analytics division.[5][7] The Brewlife division serves the company's startup and emerging technology clientele.[9]
W2O Group is the second largest PR firm by revenue in O'Dwyer's annual rankings of U.S. agencies and the largest in the healthcare sector.[24] More than 90 percent of its revenues are from U.S.-based clients.[11] Healthcare tends to be its fastest growing practice area[11] and was the firm's focus early on, though more recently the analytics practice has taken a larger role.[12]
According to PR Week, W2O's most-used services include "PR, analytics, and its CCX creative unit."[11] It also started a multicultural practice in early 2015.[11] One of W2O's software services is MDigitalLife, which stores data on the online activity of doctors and patients. It is used by pharmaceutical companies to understand sentiment in the healthcare field.[12]
References
- "Contact". W2O Group. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
- Kanski, Alison (January 22, 2018). "Jennifer Gottlieb named W2O Group president". PR Week. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- "Top PR Firm Rankings". O'Dwyer's. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- "Agency Profiles - WCG". PR Week. May 14, 2010. p. 52.
- Chase, James (July 2012). "W2O Group: Starting small, this shop found big growth via speed and flexibility". Medical Marketing and Media.
- Arnold, Matthew (April 2012). "New companies expand WCG's reach". Medical Marketing and Media.
- Dickson, Virgil (March 8, 2012). "WCG restructures, creates W2O Group parent company, two sister firms". PR Week. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- "WCG Creates New Parent Company, Network of Firms". Adweek – Breaking News in Advertising, Media and Technology. March 8, 2012. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- Coffee, Patrick (January 7, 2013). "W2O Launches New 'Brewlife' Agency". W2O Launches New ‘Brewlife’ Agency. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- Lewis, Tanya (July 2014). "W2O Group". Medical Marketing and Media.
- "W2O Group: Agency Business Report 2015". US Home. April 27, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- Deri., Chris (April 10, 2015). "W2O Group Revenues Up 10% To $82.6 Million In 2014". The Holmes Report. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- Sobczyk, Carolyn (December 7, 2016). "W2O Group acquires Sentient Interactive". MM&M. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- Shah, Aarti (August 10, 2016). "W2O Faces Gender Discrimination Lawsuit From Former Media Head". The Holmes Report. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- Bradley, Diana (August 10, 2016). "W2O faces gender discrimination suit from former staffer Lynn Fox". PR Week. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice in May 2017: Case Info & Dismissal
- Kanski, Alison (May 29, 2019). "W2O receives new private equity investment from New Mountain Capital". PR Week. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
- "New Mountain Capital Invests in W20 Group - Thu., May 30, 2019". ODwyers. May 30, 2019. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
- "W2O buys Austin-based digital agency VM Foundry". PR Week. December 12, 2012.
- "W2O Buys Geo-Fencing Platform VinTank". The Holmes Report. March 31, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
- Sobczyk, Carolyn (September 7, 2016). "W2O acquires Pure Communications, plans to create new health and tech agency". MM&M. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- Kanski, Alison (November 7, 2016). "W2O acquires research and analytics firm Marketeching Solutions". PR Week. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- Kanski, Alison (October 24, 2017). "W2O looks to eliminate confusion with network rebrand". PR Week. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
- "O'Dwyer's Annual PR Rankings Issue". O'Dwyer's. 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.