Lambert & Co., Michigan’s largest public relations and integrated marketing firm, announced the acquisition of branding, creative and digital agency Fairly Painless Advertising. The deal marks Lambert’s eighth transaction and third in the last six months, and it combines two of West Michigan’s leading firms of the past decade.
“We’ve been on the hunt for an ad agency acquisition for some time to bolster our integrated offerings, and a national search led us to our own backyard and an agency we’ve known for years,” said Jeff Lambert, founder and CEO. “I’ve admired Chris Cook and his ability to attract great creative talent and deliver impactful work for clients agnostic of industry, geography or scale, and Fairly Painless is an immediate complement to our clients and team.”
“This is a key milestone in our strategic plan and moves Lambert from a leading PR firm minoring in ad and creative services to a fully-integrated agency majoring in it.”
Holland, Michigan-based Fairly Painless was founded in 1992 by Peter Bell and Elizabeth Brandt and has long been led by Cook with a focus on bringing world-class creative to Michigan’s world-class companies. The agency has built a reputation for excellence with both B2B and consumer-facing brands, and its in-house team of 12 employees has been curated from some of the finest agencies and production companies in the world. Fairly Painless serves leading regional and national organizations in the automotive and manufacturing, consumer products, education, financial services, non-profit and retail sectors. Terms of the deal, which closed in early March, were not disclosed.
“Joining with Lambert provides a new platform for my team to collaborate and grow, while also bringing expanded services and a true national-caliber integrated agency offering for our clients,” said Chris Cook, Fairly Painless CEO. “I couldn’t be more pleased to find a partner in Lambert that I believe represents the perfect strategic match. I respect what they’ve done with their growth and successful add-on acquisitions, but also how they’ve done it and the passion for clients and their businesses we share.”
Fairly Painless is a full-service advertising agency providing research, planning and creative services spanning print and digital design, brand strategy, advertising copy and creative, video production, web development, digital marketing services and ad buying.
