• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, March 1, 2016

About 15 months ago consulting firm ICF International bought independent ad agency Olson for $295 million. It was the firm's biggest deal in a spree of agency acquisitions for the consultant that also included Ironworks, Citytech and Mostra.

Now the consultant is consolidating its agency holdings to create a new entity that it’s calling ICF Olson, which it describes as a full-service marketing agency that will offer services including creative advertising,  technology services and digital experience, loyalty/CRM, PR, analytics and other offerings.

The consolidated operations will have more than 800 employees across 14 offices throughout the United States, Canada and India.  It will have four main operating units including Olson (digital, advertising), Olson Engage (PR, social media), ICF Olson 1to1 (loyalty, CRM), and ICF Olson (digital and technology-enabled platforms and solutions).

Commenting on the move, ICF International Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sudhakar Kesavan said “There are many technology focused providers who work well with CTOs and CIOs, and many creative agencies that excel at creative and communications-oriented solutions, but ICF Olson is the rare agency that truly excels at both.”

Maybe less rare than might have been the case a few years ago--lot’s of ICF’s consultant competitors are buying up agencies to put together similar offerings. Just yesterday, Deloitte acquired San Francisco-based agency Heat, the latest of a number of agency acquisitions by the firm. IBM has also bought up a number of agencies as have Accenture and McKinsey.

ICF Olson’s executive leadership team includes Margaret Murphy, president of Olson and ICF Olson 1to1. She had been president and COO of Olson before the consolidation.  Olson veteran Bryan Specht will continue as president of Olson Engage, and Matthew Van Bergen, president of digital solutions was previously SVP at Citytech. 

Other senior executives at the new entity include Chief Growth Officer Michael Brown, Senior Vice President Eric Hudgens (operations and financial management), and Chief Talent Officer Kevin Hansen.