SAN FRANCISCO — Allison+Partners has unveiled a brand refresh, including a name change to Allison, and stated its intent to expand rapidly through acquisition.

The agency, part of the Stagwell group, said the rebrand – including a new logo, website and manifesto, as well as the new name – reflected its evolution from an earned media PR agency to a global integrated marketing communications firm.

Allison partner and UK & Ireland managing director Jim Selman told PRovoke Media: “We were born in Silicon Valley as a scrappy, entrepreneurial agency looking after young companies like YouTube, WhatsApp and Dropbox. We’ve been particularly successful when clients are going through a period of change and need help in telling a new story – we had a front seat to change at IKEA, Pinterest and Byron Burger – and at the same time, we learned how we wanted to evolve ourselves.

“The agency has gone through transformation in terms of our offer and geography. Clients were coming to us and asking for non-PR services, and over the past few years we’ve been hiring people who don’t do traditional earned media PR: we have experts in social media, influencer, digital and performance marketing. We’ve also built a network of like-minded folks to offer global coverage, which we’re looking at evolving into a branded network.

Selman said the brand refresh would “trigger a more aggressive growth strategy” for Europe in particular: “There will be more organic and M&A growth across the continent, as well as Africa and the Middle East – EMEA is a big frontier for us.”

Global chairman and CEO Scott Allison, who founded the firm 22 years ago, said the firm had undergone a “remarkable evolution”, expanding its services, its talent base and its client portfolio. Seven of Allison’s top 10 clients are now represented across multiple market, and the agency has more global brands on its client roster, such as AB InBev, GE Appliances, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IHG, Kyndryl and Revlon.

Allison said the new brand identity represented “not just a change in name and logo, but a bold declaration of our commitment to shaping the future of integrated marketing and communications”.

He confirmed the new-look agency planned to achieve rapid growth through targeted acquisitions, as well as bolstering its creative capabilities, and would continue to expand its offer beyond its PR roots, with a focus on innovation driven by data and technology.

The firm’s structure has also evolved, with the marketing innovation team offering integrated marketing, brand engagement strategies, performance marketing, creative, storytelling, studio, and research and analytics functions, while the Allison Advisory team helps the C-suite accelerate growth by looking at the intersection of business goals, customer needs, regulatory environments and employee experience.