• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 6, 2021

Southern California agency SCS has merged with independent digital performance marketing agency Swarm, which is based in Atlanta. Terms were not disclosed. The merged company will operate as SCS.

Founded in 2009 by Tom and Alexa Ellis, Swarm’s offering includes strategy, marketing, design, and technology services. The agency has been recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of Atlanta’s 25 Largest Advertising and Marketing Firms.  

SCS was founded as Schiefer Media by Carl Schiefer in Orange County, California in 1985. Schiefer Media merged with creative agency ChopShop at the end of 2016 to form SCS and acquired digital production agency Fuel in 2018.

Swarm serves a mix of national, regional, and local clients in e-commerce, digital performance media, retail, consumer products, home services and B2B.

The combined entity includes 100 people across three offices – Atlanta, Southern California, and Ottawa (Canada) offering integrated digital, media, creative and marketing services.

Tom Ellis, former CEO of Swarm, now serves as the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) of SCS and Alexa Ellis, former senior vice president marketing and Implementation, becomes Chief Operating Officer. The two executives are tasked with continuing to grow the Southeast region and clients.

Schiefer continues as Founder & CEO of SCS and Jeff Roach, who joined with the ChopShop acquisition and was previously at Fuel, continues as President & Chief Strategy Officer. 

“Marketing today, and especially with the rise of e-commerce during the Pandemic, requires a deep level of creativity, data and technology,” said Schiefer. “We were attracted to Swarm because of its founders’ commitment to employees and clients as well as its strength in digital, media and DTC focus, designing compelling campaigns and communications across a variety of brands and to a variety of consumers.”

Current SCS clients include Brembo, Decked, Discovery Networks, John Deere, Falken, Miele, Mothers, Nexstar, OSDB, Spectrum Brands (Kwikset, Pfister and others), Sylvania, Vans, Warner Bros., and West Coast University.

The deal was led by Glenn Rogers, Chief Development Officer at SCS who worked with M&A brokers Amanda Dixon of Barney in Newport Beach.