Creative Communication & Design will become AMPERAGE effective immediately
Cedar Falls, IOWA—AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising today announced it has acquired Creative Communication & Design (CREATIVE), an advertising agency with offices in Wausau and Madison, Wisc. CREATIVE will be branded as AMPERAGE.
“This acquisition is part of our overall Midwest growth strategy,” said Bryan Earnest, president and CEO of AMPERAGE. “Creative Communication’s culture and client roster fits with our belief in doing work that positively impacts lives in significant ways. We’re pleased to welcome the CREATIVE team to the AMPERAGE family.”
AMPERAGE will retain the expertise of CREATIVE’s owners. Chris Liedtke will be AMPERAGE’s director of Wisconsin operations. Cindy Baumann, creator of opportunities, will split her time between Wisconsin and Florida, where AMPERAGE’s largest client, Memorial Healthcare System is located.
“After working together, we realized our agency synergies brought greater value to our clients,” said Liedtke. “AMPERAGE offers a full suite of services and our team looks forward to offering additional digital services to our clients. We all couldn’t be more excited to join this great team of strategic and creative professionals.”
The two companies have been collaborating on client projects for nearly two years. CREATIVE has a staff of 10 people and primarily works with the healthcare and manufacturing sectors with clients located in the Midwest and Canada.
“Creative Communication is an award-winning agency with a strong core of strategic and creative people,” said Mark Mathis, AMPERAGE partner and chief creative and strategy officer. “This move will significantly enhance our marketing and communications depth and industry expertise. Manufacturing is an important and growing sector in the Midwest and AMPERAGE is excited to now have an impressive portfolio of manufacturing work.”
In 2014, advertising agencies ME&V (Mathis, Earnest & Vandeventer) acquired HRB (Henry, Russell & Bruce) to create AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising.
“The digital marketing ecosystem is changing how agencies work,” said Earnest. “Client needs are expanding beyond typical agency work, including digital data analysis. Many companies are grappling with the digital communication transformation and need a 21st century agency. We will continue to look for strategic partners that add value, and especially as it relates to providing clients a broader and deeper level of digital expertise.”
AMPERAGE is a 40-person agency with offices in Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Quad Cities and Des Moines, Iowa. AMPERAGE largely works with healthcare, education, financial and nonprofit clients. AMPERAGE is also one of the largest fundraising consultancies in Iowa, working with nearly 100 Midwest capital campaigns from hospitals to libraries.
