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Philly-based Evoke adds S.F.-based Giant Creative in $72M deal

"On the forefront of digital since pharma embraced it"

Reid Connolly is CEO of Evoke Group
Reid Connolly is CEO of Evoke GroupRead moreEvoke

Evoke Group, which includes eight marketing, media and communications firms run by chief executive Reid Connolly from offices at 1 S. Broad St., has acquired a ninth agency, San Francisco-based Giant Creative Strategy, from Los Angeles-based Shamrock Capital. (Earlier versions of this item gave the wrong city for Giant Creative's location.)

Evoke's owner, Huntsworth Plc, paid $72.2 million for a 90.2 percent share in Giant Creative, which it funded with borrowed money. Huntsworth, a  U.K.-based marketing and communications company that works mostly for drug and biotech companies, trades on the London Stock Exchange, where it closed Tuesday at 115, down from a high of 139 last week.

Evoke Group includes Evoke Health, Firsthand, Fabric, Traverse HealthStrategy, Nitrogen Health, Tonic Life Communications, and AboveNation Media, along with Giant Creative Strategy.  Giant Creative is the group's first West Coast office.

Gold said Connolly and his Evolve colleagues "built one of the most formidable agencies and agency groups in the marketing and communications sector," and have been "on the forefront of digital since pharma embraced it." Together the firms will sell U.S. and foreign clients "new and expanded offerings."

Besides Philly and L.A., Evoke also has offices in New York, Chicago and London.