SAN FRANCISCO: Archetype has acquired San Francisco-based PR firm Rsquared Communication.
The deal is expected to be final as of June 1. Rsquared, which was founded by CEO Rebecca Reeve 10 years ago and works with high-growth companies and venture-backed startups, will not retain its brand. In six months, Reeve will become a member of an agency advisory board. Until then, she will work as an adviser to Archetype.
"It feels like an incredible opportunity to further our mission to be a local market leader everywhere we operate," said Archetype CEO Helena Maus. "This acquisition further bolsters our talent in one of the most competitive markets in the industry in San Francisco."
She added that the two firms met through work for mutual client Slack. Maus said she felt like Rsquared shared a "strong cultural alignment" with her agency.
Along with Rsquared’s presence in San Francisco, Maus also complimented the "excellent work" the firm did for "interesting" companies such as Mailchimp, ZipRecruiter, Quora, Digit and Carta. The firm’s entire client roster will transition to Archetype.
"We don’t believe there are any client conflicts," said Maus.
Reeve said that she wanted her firm to be acquired by Archetype because she believes in Maus’ vision and noted that Rsquared clients will benefit from an expanded footprint. Archetype has a staff of 700 in 20 offices worldwide, while Rsquared has eight staffers.
"We are working with high-growth clients, so the ability to scale with them as they continue their journey is really important because the international capabilities of Archetype are going to be the types of things these clients are looking for in the not-to-distant future," said Reeve.
Rsquared’s staffers are set to move into Archetype’s San Francisco office. There will be no layoffs due to the deal, barring one junior employee in Canada. Financial information about the deal was not disclosed.
"Text100 was my first PR job when I arrived in San Francisco, so it feels special to come full circle," said Reeve. "This is a testament to what a small place Silicon Valley is and how interconnected and important those relationships are and how they come around in less time than you might expect."
Text100 and Bite Global merged in Q1 to form Archetype. The Next Fifteen agency also restructured into a single P&L in North America and moved its personnel into shared offices spaces with blended account teams. Previously, Text100’s offices operated as separate P&Ls while Bite’s U.S. business was under a single P&L.
In 2018, Archetype brought in $81 million in revenue, a 6% increase over the year prior.
Former Text100 CEO Aedhmar Hynes stepped down when the merger was announced in September 2018. She had served as the firm’s chief executive for 18 years and worked at the agency for 28.
Editor's note: This story was updated with details about Reeve's role on May 1.
