As of today, Abovo Media has acquired digital marketing agency Maxlead. Together, this creates a very powerful and effective agency group that serves its existing and potential customers across the full media spectrum. The two agencies will retain their existing identities and will be housed in Hoorn and Oegstgeest, respectively. From now on, they will work in joint customer teams on the best cases possible. The new (independent) group has 200 employees and a media and consultancy expenditure of €200 million.
Marinus Zoutendijk and Kees Verbeek are the founders/owners of Abovo Media. Since 1999, they have been building a high-quality agency focused on advertisers in the Netherlands who require broadly integrated services. Zoutendijk and Verbeek are convinced that their customer meetings should focus on content and the best possible conversion per euro. Zoutendijk: ‘It is not in the customer’s interest to involve multiple parties and disciplines that compete with each other for the largest possible share of the customer’s marketing budget. With the acquisition of Maxlead, we are continuing to implement our ideas. They are the perfect addition to our 40-person-strong digital team and provide a huge injection of digital knowledge.’ Verbeek adds: ‘Maxlead is a very driven and professional group of people and from the very first introduction it all felt very familiar, from their approach to the market to internal processes. We strongly believe in this combination and welcome our Maxlead colleagues!’
Rob Steenbrink, founder of Maxlead: ‘In the rapidly changing media landscape, our customers need a wider range of services throughout the customer journey. By joining Abovo Media, we will be able to offer this even better in future. It is not only in terms of service that we fit together well. Coming from an entrepreneurial and no-nonsense background, and with a committed and proactive mentality, we work together to optimally serve our customers.’ Ronald van Klooster, shareholder in Maxlead since 2006: ‘This shared DNA provides a good basis. We have great confidence in this new collaboration and the entire Maxlead board of directors will continue to be involved in this new venture.’
