Marketing and data strategy firm Schireson Associations, founded by Kern Schireson, has acquired creative agency Stun Creative and brand strategist and business innovation Blackbird to form new full-service marketing agency Known.

“It’s simply not enough to talk about how the business has changed. You have to change with it in terms of marketing,” said Brad Roth, who with Stun Creative co-founder Mark Feldstein will become president of Known Studios, overseeing the creative side of the new company. “For us, it’s as much about knowing your audience and understanding how to reach them as well as why your brand matters to you. That’s where the idea of Known comes from. Those three key practices between science, strategy and the studio—if you can’t start by knowing who your audience is, then you aren’t going to be successful in how to reach them.”

Under the new umbrella, Known will be able to offer clients data analytics, audience segmentation analysis, brand and product strategy, media planning and buying, and custom creative all under one roof.

“Brands are looking for that help - a partner they can turn to that can get them all of that information,” said Feldstein. “Some clients have data in-house but a lot of places don’t have access to the information that they need. With Known, now all of that is seamless - it’s not like one company handing it to another company. We are literally seamless, sitting next to each other, in meetings with each other. Nothing gets lost in translation and when that happens it’s pretty powerful and rare.”

Known, with a tagline of “Science, Strategy, Studios,” will offer three buckets of services provided by the three companies. Schireson Associates provides the data analysis piece, Blackburn the brand strategy and Stun the creative.

Schireson Associates Founder Kern Schireson—who left the company to spend five years at Viacom, first of EVP and then chief data officer, will be Known’s chairman and CEO.

“We see this as a generational opportunity to actually respond to the needs of marketers today, and we’re delighted to be on the side of change,” he said in a statement.

Schireson’s chief operating officer, Jeff Kingsley, will serve as president and COO of Known.

Ross Martin, Blackbird’s founder and CEO, has been named Known’s president and chief experience officer, while Roth and Feldstein will head up Known Studios, which incorporates Stun.

Known is headquartered in New York with divisions in Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Seattle and San Francisco.

Tags: blackbird known schireson associates stun stun creative


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