IceNews sat down with Pipar\TBWA CEO Valgeir Magnússon to discuss the company’s acquisition of a Norwegian agency in these uncertain times.
IceNews:
This has been a difficult time for businesses and very few are thinking about expansion. When did the deal go through?
Valgeir Magnússon:
So, the acquisition actually took place early last year, before the coronavirus epidemic began. And then the world closed in the same week as we signed the purchase agreement.
When it became obvious that this thing [the pandemic] would throw everything off kilter, we agreed to postpone enforcing the agreement until August last year, that is August 2020. We thought that by then the world would be more open, so we took over the operation from that time.
IceNews:
But with hindsight, we know that turned out not to be the case. That was when the second wave hit. How did that effect operations?
Valgeir Magnússon:
Well, I rushed back from Norway to avoid a long quarantine and since then, I have handled the management through teleconferencing. Much like everyone else in the world these days. And have not been able to go back into the office there.
IceNews:
Why has Pipar\TBWA decided to expand now?
Valgeir Magnússon:
We already had customers in Norway for some time through the online marketing office Engine, which we merged with in 2018. Kristján Már Hauksson, founder of Engine, lives in Oslo.
Pipar\TBWA is part of TBWA Worldwide which is an international agency headquartered in New York City. We were offered the TBWA brand in Norway, as here in Iceland, and we realized it was a good opportunity for us. We purchased a small online marketing agency in Oslo with three employees, which we have now increased to six.
We’re very happy to have them join the Pipar\TBWA family.
The agency, run under the name Pipar\TBWA, has already expanded and today handles all general advertising projects. However, the emphasis on online marketing remains the focus.
