City Briefs: ZOO Digital, Jaywing, and Filtronic

Leading provider of end-to-end cloud-based localisation and media services to the global entertainment industry, ZOO Digital Group has started it’s previously announced global growth strategy with the launch of ZOO Turkey.

The Sheffield-based business has completed a strategic investment in Istanbul-based media localisation company ARES Media to grow ZOO’s services for Turkish content. ZOO Turkey will provide major content creators and global streaming services with an enhanced offering in the MENA region and enable ZOO to secure new talent across its key markets.

Founded in 2000, ARES Media provides services to support the distribution of international TV shows and award-winning feature films, offering dubbing, subtitling, foley, access, and post-production services. It is now one of Turkey’s leading media localisation companies and has been an operational partner to ZOO for four years.

The investment follows ZOO announcing place to expand its in-territory expertise across Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia last week, in order to meet growing demand from leading global content providers.

The trend of acquiring local Turkish content for distribution on global streaming services is not slowing down and ZOO Turkey will enable the business to access local talent and facilities in the region, as well as provide greater capacity to handle higher volumes of work at a faster rate, and access competitive pricing in all key languages.

Stuart Green, CEO of ZOO Digital, said: “The launch of ZOO Turkey marks the first of several strategic investments to grow our global footprint in key territories. We have worked with ARES for some time to deliver high-quality Turkish language services to our clients and the launch of ZOO Turkey cements our ability to do this at a time of significant growth in the region. By acting as a regional hub for our MENA operations, ZOO Turkey will provide access to in-territory expertise and open doors to new opportunities in the region.

“We are excited to officially welcome ARES Media to the ZOO Digital Group and look forward to continuing to deliver quality services to our clients in this key market.”

Ender Albayrak, president, ZOO Turkey, ARES Media, added: “We are proud to officially become part of the global ZOO family. Our two companies have worked successfully together for a number of years and now ZOO Turkey can bring even more technology-backed services to clients, both in MENA and globally.”

:::

UK marketing agency Jaywing which specialises in data science has completed the purchase of Australian digital agency Frank Digital.

The deal is the culmination over a three year process with the Sheffield-based agency originally acquiring a 75% stake in Frank Digital in 2018 with the remaining 25% subject to a Put and Call option that was exercisable from February next year. However the company has reached an agreement with Matt Barbelli the sole director of Frank Digital to acerbate the exercise of the option at £0.7m which will be made in monthly payments until 30 April 2022.

The company is now 100% owned by Jaywing, and following the deal Frank will join Jaywing’s other Australian business Massive Group under the Jaywing Australia trading name, which will be led by CEO Tom Geekie and CCO Matt Barbelli.

Andrew Fryatt, Jaywing CEO, said: “Since joining our Group in 2018, Frank Digital has delivered strong growth in both revenue and EBITDA, through delivering award-winning design work that has won both national and global clients. Under Jaywing’s full ownership, we will now combine Frank Digital with our existing wholly-owned Australian business to offer a full-service integrated proposition in line with our UK marketing proposition. We are delighted to welcome the Frank Digital team fully into the Group. Despite the pressures of the pandemic, we are continuing to drive strong revenue growth in Australia, which will now be consistently delivered under the “Jaywing Australia” brand.”

:::

Former COO of McLaren Group and CEO of McLaren Racing F1, Jonathan Neale will join communications specialist Filtronic as non executive chairman on 15 November.

Neale occupied principal roles, leading strategic operational and infrastructure planning for the business and was pivotal in the integration of the McLaren Racing, McLaren Applied and McLaren Automotive businesses.

Richard Gibbs, chief executive officer, at Filtronic said: “I am delighted to welcome Jonathan to Filtronic, with his extensive aerospace experience and leadership across fast moving technology businesses, and I look forward to working with him as we seek to execute engineering programs and scale the organisation”.

Neale, added: “I have been impressed with the capabilities of the Filtronic organisation and I look forward to working with the Board to expand and grow the Filtronic capability from its very solid engineering base into new markets, partnerships and customers”.