• December 2, 2009

Cheil Worldwide on Wednesday announced the purchase of a majority stake in The Barbarian Group, a digital creative and marketing company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Barbarian will move its headquarters from Boston to its New York office. At present, South Korea-based Cheil claims to operate 31 offices in 25 countries. Founded in 2001, The Barbarian Group is perhaps best known for Burger King's The Subservient Chicken campaign, and, more recently, this month's "augmented reality" issue of Esquire magazine.

Barbarian Group's current management team - co-founders Benjamin Palmer, CEO; Rick Webb, Chief Operating Officer; and Keith Butters, Chief Experience Officer -- will continue to lead the company. Late last year, Cheil Worldwide acquired London-based agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), which at the time ranked No. 1 in the UK based on new business rankings, and recently expanded into the U.S. market with its first global office in New York. --Gavin O'Malley