Diana Marszalek 06 Sep 2022 // 7:30PM GMT
NEW YORK — Finn Partners has acquired San Diego-based Rachel Kay Public Relations, expanding the fast-growing firm’s work with food and beverage brands.
Founder and CEO Rachel Kay will join Finn as managing partner reporting to Howard Solomon, a San Francisco-based managing partner. Kay will also be part of Finn’s global consumer practice leadership team.
RKPR will significantly enhance Finn’s existing work in the food and beverage space, which currently includes clients such as Bolthouse Farms, Filippo Berio, Jack Daniel’s, USA Pears, Northwest Cherries, Berry Bros. & Rudd and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. RKPR’s clients include Simple Mills, NotCo, KOE Organic Kombucha, Forager Project, Brazi Bites, Elmhurst 1925, Country Archer Provisions, Bubbies Ice Cream, Catalina Crunch, and Tofurky.
Acquiring the 19-person agency brings Finn’s West Coast staff to 165 people spread across offices in Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and now San Diego.
“RKPR is one of the most respected firms specializing in consumer packaged food, beverage, and wellness brands,” said founding managing partner and CEO Peter Finn. “Building on the momentum of our rapidly growing global consumer practice, the firm adds deep packaged food and beverage expertise spanning established leaders to disruptive food and beverage innovators. With the addition of RKPR, our global consumer practice will have annual fees of almost $25 million, adding it to the ranks of the largest FINN Partners practices along with health, tech and travel.”
Buying RKPR is the latest in a years-long series of acquisitions by Finn to expand its worldwide offerings and reach.
In July, Finn purchased Asia healthcare firm SPAG, bolstering its APAC presence with one of the biggest acquisitions in the agency’s history, and in February the agency acquired brand strategy and creative agency AHA in a move that enable the firm to launch a global internal communications & employee engagement practice.
In December, Finn acquired the platform Medika Life, adding a second healthcare news and information outlet to the content unit that launched with the agency’s purchase of The Pharmacy Podcast Network in November.
Finn also acquired Dublin communications agency 360 last December, creating the firm’s first Irish outpost.
In November 2021, Finn announced the purchase of luxury travel PR firm Hawkins International and another travel firm, Hawaii-based Anthology Marketing Group.
In 2019, Finn acquired Hong Kong travel specialist CatchOn, and travel and lifestyle consultancy Brighter Group in 2018.
Other 2021 movies include the firm buying Health IT specialist Agency Ten22 and tech agency Barokas Communications.
Finn also purchased digital marketing agency MintTwist. The move marked Finn’s fifth acquisition in London in the past four years, coming on the heels of financial services firm Moorgate Communications and consumer and lifestyle agency ZPR in 2019; Brighter Group in 2018; and B2B specialist ABI in 2017.
In May 2021, Finn bought back Stagwell Group’s minority stake in the firm, putting an end to the companies’ four-plus year financial partnership that enabled Finn Partners to grow by 2020 into a $110 million operation with 750 people across 20 offices.