AMSTERDAM — Dutch integrated marketing group Candid has acquired PR and corporate communications agency Coopr for an undisclosed sum.

Coopr, which was founded in 2009 and is based in Rotterdam and Antwerp, works with clients including Adidas, Coca-Cola, Coolblue, LinkedIn and TikTok. Coopr’s founders, Jody Koehler (pictured, second left) and Jos Govaart (second right), will join as partners of Candid and continue to manage the agency.

Candid CEO Ruud Wanck (right) said the move was the “next step in bringing together all marketing and communications disciplines into a fully integrated platform for advertisers.” And he signalled that UK expansion was now on the cards: “By becoming part of the Candid platform, Coopr can now also shape its ambition with regard to further internationalisation with a London branch in the not too distant future.”

Wanck said: “Coopr is an absolute premium brand in the field of PR and corporate communication. Their entrepreneurial spirit fits in perfectly with our platform strategy in which we bring together strong and distinctive agencies into an integrated platform. Within Candid, agencies retain their own culture and identity, but our clients always have direct access to our services across the full range of the marketing and communication profession. With the acquisition of Coopr, we now also have a leading agency within our platform in the – increasingly important – field of PR and corporate communication.”

Coopr will continue to operate as an autonomous agency under its own name within the Candid platform. “By joining the Candid platform, we retain our individuality, but we can immediately deepen and broaden our offer and at therefore offer our clients more integrated and other disciplines”, said Koehler and Govaart in a statement. “In addition, the correlation between PR and other communication disciplines is more relevant than ever. Good brand ideas are most credibly propagated through PR efforts.”

The expansion fits in with Candid’s ambitions to become the largest independent marketing and advertising platform in the Netherlands. Other recent acquisitions include media agencies Stroom, M2Media and BBK media, digital agency Online Company and digital experience agency Havana Harbor, social media expert Daily Dialogues, advertising agency XXS, global brand design specialist Millford and marketing innovation agency Cogonez.

Candid founder and chairman of the board Gérard Ghazarian (pictured, left) said more acquisitions would follow this year, both at home and in other countries. “With the addition of a high-quality agency like Coopr, we are once again demonstrating the growth ambitions and ability of our platform.”