The local marketing and communications sector has seen an uptick in M&A activity in recent years.

During 2025 alone, Brookfield-based Best Version Media, a community publication company, was acquired by a Boston-based affiliate of investment firm H.I.G. Capital; Milwaukee-based Top Floor, a provider of digital marketing for manufacturers, acquired Milwaukee-based Concept Co., which specialized in branding, growth marketing, technology integration and sales support; and Milwaukee-based Punch PR was acquired by Trozzolo Communications Group, a full-service communications agency based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Those deals were proceeded by several others in 2024 and 2023 including Milwaukee-based marketing firm Zizzo Group’s acquisition of local competitor Celtic Inc.; the acquisition of Milwaukee-based Trefoil Group by Florida-based BrandStar; the sale of Brookfield-based MDM Fundraising to Texas-based RKD Group; and Brookfield-based multichannel marketing company Responsory’s acquisition of Chanhassen, Minnesota-based Rocket Man Digital.

Several factors seem to be driving this recent wave of mergers and acquisitions, including post-pandemic shifts in business models, rising demand for digital and integrated marketing and a broader trend toward consolidation and one-stop-shop models.

Most of these deals were strategic, meaning they prioritized synergies and growth over financial returns, and in some cases also maintained the leadership, employee base and brand names of the acquired firms.

‘Punch’ing up

Trozzolo’s acquisition of Punch kept a local brand alive under a larger umbrella while providing continuity for clients and staff. Under the deal, which closed June 1, Punch maintained its eight full-time employees and brand name, operating now as Punch, A Trozzolo Company. It also kept its Third Ward office, merging with Trozzolo’s local office which it opened in 2022.

Punch was founded by Lauren Grimm in 2009. Dave Racine joined the company as founding partner in 2018 after leading social media and PR for local agencies Cramer-Krasselt and Hanson Dodge.

Eventually Punch got to a point where it needed to scale, and reaching the next level would require some level of external backing or investment. Grimm and Racine had been approached by other larger agencies, based both locally and nationally, and had entertained some of those conversations.

“When you’re a couple of owner-operators and you are facing ‘we want to grow, what do we have to do to grow?’ And then you look around and you see the outfits that might be interested in you and you’re kind of going, ‘you know what, they offer a lot more things than we do.’ It stands to reason that maybe the modern agency is built a little differently and maybe we can become a part of that through what we want.”

After preemptively going through a valuation process in 2022, Grimm and Racine ultimately decided the value of their business was not high enough to sell just yet. When Punch officially went to market a couple years later, it had interest from 55 different parties by the end of the first week. It ultimately came down to Trozzolo and one other contending firm – both were similar and aligned with Punch’s culture and values.

Grimm and Racine’s hands-on approach and long-standing client relationships were part of what made the company so attractive, said Racine. It was always their intention to remain with the brand after the sale, so it was important to find a buyer that could take Punch to the next level while also allowing the founders to keep doing what they love.

“We have a lot of career left in us and, you know, we didn’t want to go anywhere,” said Grimm.

Now as managing directors of Trozzolo’s Milwaukee office, Grimm and Racine are adjusting to a shift in identity, from owner-operator to employee. That has meant adopting new accounting processes and PTO policies, learning how to use new internal platforms, and getting to know a new team of roughly 80 co-workers over Zoom.

Being part of a larger company has also meant more horsepower, greater access to resources and support, and more capacity for Grimm and Racine to interface with clients or take on more business quickly.

“We don’t have to worry about quick staffing up. We have the resources now. If an amazing opportunity with the current set of our clients or new clients happen, there’s no scramble, there’s no like, ‘Oh, we got to staff up, who have we been interviewing? It’s just, ‘We’re ready,’” Grimm said.

A recent example of this was when Punch enlisted the help of Trozzolo’s creative team for an influencer marketing project.

“It was an email away and next thing we know we had a Zoom meeting and they went away and came back really creative and next thing you know we’re implementing it, said Racine. “It was like, boy, we have a whole department that could just generate ideas where, you know, with us it would be a lot of hand wringing and a lot of pizza ordering late at night, that kind of thing.”

Grimm says there’s a sense of pride in knowing that Punch, as what started as a small boutique shop, was seen as an asset by a larger firm and is now able to unlock the next level of growth.

“We are able to achieve something that a lot of small business owners maybe don’t get to or don’t get to as easily … it’s the next phase and we’re excited for what’s next,” she said.

Celtic’s new home

The Zizzo Group-Celtic acquisition came together under similar circumstances. Owners Brian Meehan and Kurt Lingel wanted to continue growing the business that they had purchased from founders Martha Smith and Marlene Byrne in 2005. Rather than footing hefty investments in technology and talent on their own, they decided a merger or acquisition would be the best way forward.

As they got ready to explore opportunities, Meehan remembered he had hung on to a letter that Zizzo Group CEO Anne Zizzo had sent him, expressing interest in acquiring Celtic. The letter had sat in his desk drawer for about a year. Zizzo has made it an annual practice to send personalized letters to competitors and peers her company may be interested in acquiring – she calls it “fishing.”

“I went and grabbed it, and I think I called Anne right away. … and the next day we were at a coffee shop,” said Meehan, vice president of public relations at ZG.

Celtic dropped its brand name as part of the acquisition, which was announced in December 2023. Its seven employees were retained and relocated to ZG’s headquarters office in the Walker’s Point neighborhood – six of those employees are still with ZG.

Founded just three years apart – Celtic in 1992 and Zizzo Group in 1995 – the firms had long considered themselves competitors in the local market, offering a similar suite of marketing-communication services and serving clients within some of the same industry sectors. It was ultimately their competitive relationship and similarities – in target markets, core competencies, cultures and commitment to southeastern Wisconsin – that made for a “natural fit,” said Zizzo.

Her approach to a strategic deal like this is to keep the business intact and avoid disruption. The deal must be a “win-win,” she said.

“I always want the founders, and the employees and the clients to come over, like the intent is that you’re basically picking up that business, putting it inside ZG and keeping everything the same for the clients other than they get more services, more bench strength, and same thing for the staff,” said Zizzo.

Prior to the acquisition, Celtic needed to outsource many of its services, including photography, videography and web development. All of that is done in-house at ZG, and having those resources at their disposal has been “an absolute game changer,” said Lingel, who now serves as vice president of marketing at ZG.

He noted there’s also benefits on the “personal side” of selling a business.

“For me, it was an opportunity to get back to doing what I really love to do – working with clients and practicing the art or the craft of marketing and advertising. Running a business is challenging,” said Lingel.

Meehan pointed to zero turnover in Celtic’s client base and retention of all but one of Celtic’s employees since the acquisition as evidence of a seamless integration of the two companies. The groundwork to achieve that should already be set prior to the deal’s close, he said.

“For an acquisition to work, you need to look beyond the numbers,” said Meehan. “I mean, usually the first thing people do is look at financials and I understand that, but the reality is you have to get beyond the numbers and really dive in and see if you share similar business philosophies, are our cultures going to mesh? You know, we spent just as much time talking business and philosophy and long-term goals and desires than we necessarily did financial matters.”