• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, October 18, 2015

London-based VCCP is on the prowl to acquire a U.S.-based ad agency so that it can increase the likelihood international brands will consider working with the agency. The agency is working with its own private equity owner, Providence Equity, on the search.

Of the search, VCCP Co-Founder and CEO Adrian Coleman said: "We were looking to do an acquisition in the U.S., but the private-equity deal is the catalyst. More and more of our work is international, but we're excluded from a lot of conversations because we're not in the U.S."

In July, Providence Equity acquired VCCP parent Chime Communications of which WPP has a minority stake. VCCP was founded in 2002 by Coleman, Chairman Charles Vallance and two others who have since left the firm, Rooney Carruthers and Ian Priest.

VCCP is looking at three agencies on the East Coast and three agencies on the West Coast, and ideally, wants to acquire an independent shop with between 80 and 150 employees. The agency hopes to have the deal in place by early 2016.

Currently, VCCP handles Coors, EasyJet BMW Motorcycles, comparethemarket.com, Asda, among others.

In terms of the VCCP culture, Coleman saidL "We're a challenger brand with challenger clients and we do brave, entrepreneurial, bold work, and we're looking for an agency that can do that. We're a bit of a refugee camp from traditional networks."