• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 22, 2022

Months after merging media agency Assembly with performance marketing unit ForwardPMX into an integrated unit operating under the Assembly name, parent Stagwell has launched a re-branding campaign created by its "creative media agency" unit, Gale.

The move also follows Stagwell's decision last month to retire one of its best-known legacy media brands, The Media Kitchen, which was folded into Stagwell's not-as-well-known MMI brand.

The Assembly reboot, meanwhile, is designed to position it as the "flagship media asset" within Stagwell's portfolio of agency brands, which is exactly how predecessor holding company MDC Partners described it when it originally launched Assembly as its flagship in 2014, naming long-time Carat executive Martin Cass as its first CEO.

Cass -- who left Assembly in 2019, shortly after The Stagwell Group founder Mark Penn was named CEO of MDC Partners -- has resurfaced as CMO of BBTV, one of the largest content publishers on YouTube.

Following a series of restructuring moves, MDC officially merged with The Stagwell Group in August 2021, to form Stagwell Inc., a publicly traded agency holding company listed on Nasdaq.

“We’ve looked inward to find change and fuel growth within our own business, and in evolving the brand, we’re moving confidently into a space where our assembly of data, talent, and tech can deliver a leading set of solutions for the best brands in the world,” states James Townsend, Global CEO of Assembly and Global CEO of Stagwell Media Network.

The company described the "visual identity" of Assembly's rebrand as playing "intentionally with bold, bright colors to humanize and create a sense of accessibility."

“Our vision was to reinvigorate the most iconic elements of the former Assembly brand while also leaning further into a visual story that would be intrinsically connected to how we deliver our work,” Assembly Vice President of Marketing Sara Pollack added in a statement, noting: “This new brand further solidifies our common purpose and an identity which connect us, no matter where we are in the world.”

Since combining the original Assembly with ForwardPMX, Stagwell said it has strengthened its "integrated full-service media offering, while expanding into more comprehensive business, data and technology consulting services."