MCCANN BUYS OUT BRISBANE AGENCY

BRISBANE communications agency The Red Republic has joined forces with McCann Australia, the world's largest agency network.

Effective immediately, the global company has merged the PR, social media, experiential and design expertise of The Red Republic.

McCann's Australian offices are in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

Founded by former journalist Fleur Madden in 2003, The Red Republic runs campaigns for an array of lifestyle, travel, fashion, beauty, wellness, hospitality and property clients.

Madden will continue as CEO of The Red Republic, reporting to McCann Worldgroup Australia chairman Ben Lilley.

"In 2015, we launched McCann's national media services in response to client demand for a genuinely integrated creative offering. Now we are delighted to be able to offer another key component of that integrated creative offering through the marketing communications expertise of Fleur and her team," says Lilley.

"Amplifying our creative reach and effectiveness through social media, PR and experiential is key to the success of every McCann campaign today. We are incredibly excited to now offer a full suite of marketing services, seamlessly integrated with our full creative, digital and media capabilities."

Madden originally called her agency Red PR because of her bright red hair and set out to make a splash in an industry she thought needed it most. Working in journalism, she recognised some of the agencies supplying content just didn't know what the media wanted.

She says the partnership will further allow The Red Republic to offer its clients more unique services.

"In looking at what the future held for us, it was time to take the next step as a business to realise our full potential. Finding a partner that could help us expand and ensure we could offer our clients an extensive suite of services, and who was also the right cultural fit was very important to me," says Madden.

"This takes us up to a whole new level as a business and I look forward to bringing greater strategic and creative firepower to our clients, existing and new, through this partnership."