Brand experience and innovation agency Akcelo has acquired specialist mobile-first creative shop POPULA.
The move strengthens the independent agency’s offering in mobile, social and digital while adding senior industry expertise and leadership.
Commercial details of the acquisition haven’t been released.
POPULA, founded in 2023 by former Meta and Google executives Jay Morgan and Mitchel O’Donohue, was created to help brands make advertising for a mobile-first world.
“Akcelo creates work that moves at the speed of culture. Bringing POPULA into the business is not just about deepening our capability, but accelerating our creative model for the future,” said Aden Hepburn, CEO of Akcelo.
“Jay and Mitch bring incredible pedigree and experience from leadership roles at Meta and Google that, combined with our scale and end-to-end capabilities, help to further forge our mission to create the most modern marketing agency in the world.”
As part of the integration, the POPULA team has joined Akcelo’s Sydney office.
POPULA clients will continue to be serviced as usual
“We started POPULA to create ideas that connect with people where they are today,” said Jay Morgan, co-founder of POPULA.
“During our times at Google and Meta we consistently heard from Australia’s biggest brands that they felt they weren’t making the most of the opportunity to connect their brand with where culture happens today. From day one, our goal has been to make advertising that works with the way people actually use platforms.
“Joining Akcelo means we can keep that focus while scaling it to new levels, which is a really exciting step for us and for the brands we work with. We’re thrilled we’ve already been able to deliver the benefits to new clients.”
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