Spoon, one of the biggest and most successful communications agencies in the Nordics, has announced its acquisition of London content agency Southerly, creating a distinctive full service communications marketing proposition that will best serve UK clients.

The new agency will have offices in London, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo, Oslo and Helsinki and will boast approximately 200 members of staff worldwide. The acquisition represents a unique opportunity to enter a new market with immediate scale and excellent opportunities for expansion. Spoon, headquartered in Sweden, and owned by Nordic publisher Bonnier, will welcome Southerly’s founder Shelley Hoppe to an enlarged board.

Spoon, Scandinavia’s largest content agency has developed effective systems to work seamlessly across countries and offices on global assignments. It works with large international brands like Volvo, Sandvik and Microsoft. In recent years, the company has established itself as one of the premier content agencies in the world, producing work that has won awards in the US, Germany and the UK.

Southerly was founded in 2009 by Shelley Hoppe and Karen Brennan. Today, the agency specialises in content marketing, employee engagement, internal communications strategy and delivery services for clients including Shell, Philips and Royal Bank of Scotland. With Spoon, Southerly expects to grow steadily in the UK over the next couple of years.

Anders Ribba, CEO of Spoon, describes this move as an important step in the company’s strategic focus and continued commitment to actively shape their client portfolio, “Establishing Spoon in the UK has been on our wish list for quite some time, but it wasn’t until we met Southerly that we found the perfect match. We share a strong belief in the power of authentic and story-driven communications. We’re similar in many ways and I’m convinced that we can develop together, both in the Nordics and in the UK. We will exchange specialist knowledge and resources with each other from day one."

“Our ambition is to continue to grow and develop, without compromising on Spoon’s heritage and DNA. We’re excited to be joining forces with Southerly as it gives us the opportunity to accelerate our growth plans and create value for all our stakeholders. To be working with such a talented combined team to take our new business to the next level is an opportunity for everyone and I am completely confident it will be a huge success,” continues Anders. 

Shelley Hoppe, CEO of Southerly adds, “Right from our very first meeting, it was obvious that we had developed a very similar philosophy and approach to both delivering the very best possible work for our clients and developing and empowering our people. We are delighted to be joining the Spoon group – it feels like a natural next step that will undoubtedly enhance opportunities for our clients and staff.”