Civilized publisher and Revolution Strategy co-owner Derek Riedle at the 2019 World Cannabis Congress in Saint John. Image: World Cannabis Congress, Facebook.
m5 Marketing and Communications, a marketing agency with offices in Moncton, Halifax, Charlottetown, St. John’s and New Hampshire, has taken over Revolution Strategy as it expands into Saint John.
Derek and Terri Riedle, the owners of Revolution, are both leaving the company, said Heather Dalton, a partner at the m5 Group of Companies.
“We’re coming together to take over their people and their clients, and Revolution will be m5 from here on in. Revolution will no longer exist and the current owners will be moving on to some of their other projects,” said Dalton in an interview.
m5 will also take over Revolution’s former office space at 86 Prince William St. to keep operations seamless for clients and staff, says Dalton.
“We’ve had our eye on the Saint John marketplace as an expansion in New Brunswick for a while, and when the opportunity kind of came to us to take this over, it kind of lined up well with our growth strategy for the company as a whole,” said Dalton.
“Our mandate is to serve Atlantic Canada and to really focus on our growth towards the region,” she said. “We felt that Saint John is a good fit for that and the second city [for us] in New Brunswick, so really, it kind of aligned for us to take the agency side of their business over into m5.”
m5 is finalizing contracts with Revolutions staff in the next few days, Dalton said.
The expansion follows m5’s acquisition of Group ATN Consulting late last year, and marks a significant step in expanding the firm’s footprint in Atlantic Canada.
“The way we’ve grown our business is to really have a depth of in-house specialized services that we can offer our clients, and then to be boots on the ground in a number of different market places serving those clients,” she said. “So we’re really happy to have a new location and have some great team members who will be transitioning over to the m5 family as well.”
m5 Group of Companies boasts expertise in marketing, public relations, public affairs, market research, as well as web development and video production.
Revolution Strategy offers branding and design, web strategy and development, social media management, content creation, crisis management, event organizing, public engagement, video, and media relations.
“I couldn’t be happier about this next chapter for Revolution Strategy,” said Terri Riedle, CEO, Revolution Strategy, in a release. “m5 has built a reputation as an absolute powerhouse of innovation, creativity and strategic support for businesses in Atlantic Canada and beyond. To know that the team and clients will be transitioned to such a solid full-service agency is truly exciting and I look forward to seeing the exceptional work that will continue to come out of this new partnership.”
It is the second deal involving the Riedles and their companies in recent months.
In October, U.S.-based New Frontier Data announced plans to acquire Civilized, a Saint John and California-based cannabis consumer publication. In early December, New Frontier announced it had completed due diligence and would be moving ahead with the deal.
A version of this story was published in Huddle, an online business news publication based in Saint John. Huddle is an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
