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BlueFocus Communication Group

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BlueFocus Communication Group
Company typePublic company
IndustryAdvertising
FoundedJuly 1, 1996; 28 years ago (July 1, 1996)
Headquarters
Beijing
,
China
Website/www.bluefocusgroup.com/

BlueFocus Communication Group(Chinese: 蓝色光标) is an ad agency engaged in marketing.[1]

BlueFocus was founded by Oscar Zhao on July 1, 1996.[2] It was launched on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010.[3]

BlueFocus acquired a minority stake in Huntsworth, a London-based PR group, for £36.5 million in April 2013,[2][4] and in December 2013, acquired a majority holding in social media marketing agency We Are Social for $30m.[5][6][7][8]

Since 2014, BlueFocus has engaged in international expansion.[1] It acquired a majority holding in Fuseproject, a U.S. design agency, for $46.7 million in July 2014,[9] which 9 years later was bought back by Yves Béhar, the founder and CEO.[10] It also acquired a majority holding in the North American assets of Canadian advertising company Vision7 International, including Cossette, an ad agency, and Citizen Relation, a PR company, in December 2014 for $210 million.[11]

By 2014, it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of $3.8 billion,[2] and was ranked as the 17th largest ad agency in the world.[1] As of 2015, its clients included PepsiCo, Lenovo, Volkswagen, and BMW.[12]

In 2017, it attempted to merge its international efforts with US-based Fluent, but eventually discontinued the effort over political concerns.[13] In 2019, it advanced into an arrangement whereby its international subsidiaries were partially divested into a separate company Blue Impact, which was to be purchased by a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Legacy Acquisition led by ex-Procter & Gamble executives Edwin Rigaud and Darryl McCall to publicly list in the United States.[13][14] This arrangement was terminated in July 2020 "in response to the increasing impact on the global advertising sector, and global markets broadly, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has negatively affected the market valuations."[15]

In 2021, BlueFocus sold a majority stake of its international division to the Québec-based global investment group Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and global private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.[16][17][18][19][20][21] Later that year the companies in its international division were grouped under the holding company brand name Plus Company.[22]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Doland, Angela (2014-04-27). "What You Need to Know About China's Rapidly Growing BlueFocus". Ad Age. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  2. ^ a b c Cookson, Robert (29 April 2014). "China's Blue Focus plans $300m overseas acquisitions". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  3. ^ Barrett, Steve (11 April 2014). "A new agency star rises in the East | How BlueFocus aims to become the Chinese version of WPP". PRWeek. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  4. ^ Mance, Henry (25 April 2013). "Huntsworth surges on Chinese partnership". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  5. ^ "China's Blue Focus buys UK social media agency". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  6. ^ "We Are Social acquired by BlueFocus in $30m deal". The Drum. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  7. ^ Owens, John (December 18, 2013). "We Are Social acquired by China-based BlueFocus". PRWeek UK. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  8. ^ McCabe, Maisie (18 December 2013). "Chinese marketing company buys We Are Social". Campaign. Haymarket Media Group. Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  9. ^ Bradshaw, Tim; Cookson, Robert (23 July 2014). "BlueFocus to enter US market with stake in Fuseproject". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Yves Béhar is taking back control of Fuseproject, and doubling down on EVs". Fast Company. 2023-11-06. Archived from the original on 2023-12-17. Retrieved 2025-04-02.
  11. ^ Krashinsky, Susan (15 December 2014). "Advertising firm Vision7 paves inroad to Asia with sale of Cossette, Citizen". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  12. ^ Vanderklippe, Nathan (24 April 2015). "CEO of China's BlueFocus not your average Mad Man". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  13. ^ a b "BlueFocus advertising & marketing assignments at Adbrands.net". www.adbrands.net. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  14. ^ Moore, Thomas (23 August 2019). "Ex-P&G execs to run agencies spun off from Blue Focus". PRWeek. Archived from the original on 2019-08-26. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  15. ^ "Legacy Acquisition Corp. Terminates its Amended and Restated Share Exchange Agreement with Blue Valor Limited and Seeks a New Target".
  16. ^ Connell, Mike (May 4, 2021). "CDPQ and CVC acquire majority stake in BlueFocus International". Media in Canada. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  17. ^ Crann, Justin (May 5, 2021). "The next steps for BlueFocus' international agencies". Strategy. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  18. ^ Stam, Aleda (May 4, 2021). "CVC Capital, CDPQ agree to joint majority stake in BlueFocus International agencies". PRweek. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  19. ^ "CVC and CDPQ Take Majority Stake in BlueFocus". www.themiddlemarket.com. 2021-05-05. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  20. ^ Writers, Staff (2021-05-05). "CVC And CDPQ To Acquire We Are Social, fuseproject And Vision7 International". B&T. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  21. ^ Wilkinson, Zoe (2021-05-05). "CVC & CDPQ set to acquire global agencies We Are Social, Fuseproject & Vision 7 International". Mumbrella. Retrieved 2025-03-11.
  22. ^ Josh Kolm (November 5, 2021). "Vision7's agencies are now part of Plus Company". Retrieved 2025-04-02.
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