Acosta Sales & Marketing signed a definitive agreement to acquire Anderson Daymon Worldwide, the sales and marketing agency that exclusively serves Costco Wholesale, a multi-billion dollar global retailer with warehouse club operations in eight countries.
“Anderson Daymon’s extensive experience serving Costco for more than three decades will not only broaden our platform and enable us to better serve a very important growth customer, but also increases the breadth and depth of our capabilities at Costco for our clients,” said Robert Hill, President and CEO of Acosta. “Anderson Daymon’s history of leadership and solid growth, unique capabilities of their associates and commitment to understanding every facet of Costco will be of particular importance as we look to help our clients prosper at this important customer.”
Acosta’s Costco team will merge with Anderson Daymon and become ADW, an Acosta Company, a new division focused solely on Costco Wholesale. Moe Krabbe, CEO of Anderson Daymon Worldwide, will serve as president of the new group reporting to Darian Pickett, Acosta’s president, strategic channels. Spike Anderson, chairman and founder of Anderson Daymon Worldwide, has agreed to remain with the company for at least one year following the closing to provide valuable leadership and transition assistance.
ADW will remain headquartered in Issaquah, Wash., with all 11 regional offices remaining in full operation. As part of this transaction, Daymon Worldwide will no longer hold an interest in this business and will not be affiliated with the new Acosta division.
Anderson Daymon represents food and nonfood products exclusively to Costco. The company has more than 200 employees and a network of 11 regional offices in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
“By joining forces with an industry leader like Acosta, we will provide enhanced services for our clients, including access to full-service and experiential marketing solutions, shopper analytics and best-in-class training,” said Krabbe. “We are very excited about the potential of this partnership and the new, diversified offerings we will deliver together to Costco and its members.”
The transaction is expected to close in February 2014.