Acosta Europe has announced its strategic acquisition of Staffordshire and North Wales-based Dee Set Group, an industry-leading retail and field marketing services provider.
The acquisition positions Acosta Europe as the UK’s most comprehensive agency provider of multi-channel digital and physical field sales solutions to serve retailers and branded manufacturers of all sizes.
Acosta Europe is a business unit of Acosta Group, a collective of the most trusted retail, marketing and foodservice agencies that empower brands and retailers to win in the modern marketplace.
Acosta Europe will now operate two separate agency brands: Reach, which joined Acosta in 2017 and includes ShopSmart; and Dee Set, which works with some of the U.K.’s biggest brands and retailers including Morrisons, Asda, Arla and Innocent across merchandising, fulfilment and big data analysis from its Stoke HQ and also includes Flintshire’s Tactical Solutions. Dee Set claims to have a retail specialist based within ten miles of 97% of the U.K.’s retail stores.
“We are bringing together two scale players in the retail and field marketing services sector to provide our clients comprehensive, flexible, and innovative solutions that meet the needs of a dynamic UK retail market,” said Ian Forshew, SVP, group managing director, Acosta Europe.
The organisation’s expanded service portfolio positions it as the only UK agency to offer end-to-end scaled product, dedicated, tactical, and syndicated services with retailer accreditation across all service types. Acosta Europe’s range of services includes product consolidation, supply chain management, late-stage customisation, and in-store execution.
“We are exceptionally pleased to welcome Dee Set and its talented associates to Acosta Europe and our greater Acosta Group agency collective,” said Lisa Koth, Acosta Group chief strategy officer and EVP, Acosta Europe. “The combined and expanded capabilities of these industry-leading agencies add measurable benefits to our valued UK customers and reinforce our role as the industry’s foremost global end-to-end sales and marketing agency,.”
Dee Set and Reach will continue to operate as separate agency brands of Acosta Europe. This structure allows the organisation to maintain the strength of dedicated teams while offering the flexibility of cross-agency expertise and syndicated services.
In his newly expanded role, Forshew becomes SVP, group managing director of Acosta Europe, whilst Greg Phillips continues to lead Dee Set Group as managing director. Reach will be led by Andy Buck, managing director.
Forshew will report to Koth, whose executive leadership role has expanded to include Acosta Europe in addition to her responsibilities for Acosta Group’s corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and innovation.
Forshew emphasised the company’s commitment to a seamless transition over the coming weeks: “We remain dedicated to providing consistent, top-tier service to our customers across our entire organisation, identifying new, innovative opportunities to drive success.”
