BWM became the flagship creative agency brand of Dentsu Aegis Network in Australia on February 4, when Dentsu Aegis acquired 51% of the agency.

One year ago (give or take a few days – on February 2, 2014), The Stable interviewed Rob Belgiovane, chief creative officer and co-founder of BWM.

Our parting question was:

TS: Peek into the creative future of BWM. What will BWM look like in January 2015?

Belgiovane’s answer was: I think in January 2015, BWM will be generally regarded as the advertising agency of the decade. We have spent the last year completely re-engineering our people – particularly our creative departments. We have taken special care to get rid of people who don’t want to be here, so we are now staffed with people who are engaged, ambitious and hungry. We’ve also been very careful to employ strategist and researchers that align with our vision of creating work that get Australian’s talking. BWM has always been one of Australia’s leading advertising agencies, and I think it’s well on the way to reclaiming its rightful spot at the top of Australia’s creative ladder.

It’s only a few days after little after January 2015. BWM became the flagship creative agency brand of Dentsu Aegis Network in Australia today, February 4. Dentsu has acquired 51% of the agency that bought itself back from Enero in 2012.

BWM’s founding partners, Rob Belgiovane, Paul Williams and Jamie Mackay, had sold a stake of their business to Photon in 2006. By 2012, BWM felt that it was being stifled and Enero had bought its way into a tough money period. So, BWM made a bid for freedom that cost $7.5 million.

With this in the background, Belgiovane told the Australian about the decision today, “We were very very careful. We are the only creative agency in that network in Australia.”

On January 21, Aegis Media and Dentsu Network combined to form the Dentsu Aegis Network. Its eight global network brands Carat, Dentsu, Dentsu media, iProspect, Isobar,mcgarrybowen, Posterscope, and Vizeum, and sizeable collection of specialist/multi-market brands, are spread across 110 countries and employ 23,000 people.

Dentsu’s digital network is Isobar and its media agency, Carat. It acquired 51% of Oddfellows in Sydney early in 2014. The integrated (predominately retail) agency stands behind the motto, “Big ideas, wherever our customers interact with our brands.”

BWM had a hugely successful 2014 with both its Melbourne and Sydney agencies growing and its profits doubling between June 2013 and now. It recently won the Santos Tour Down Under which was the catalyst for the opening of its third office (Adelaide).

It acquired digital agency, Sputnik, early in 2013 and last year turned PR company Cox Inall Communications into its social PR division, The Pop Agency.

BWM has won Jemena, NBN Co, News Limited, Medibank float, RACT and CarsGuide within the last twelve months.

Nick Waters, Asia Pacific chief executive officer Dentsu Aegis Network, commented, “We are delighted to bring BWM Group into our company. This is a top quality agency with exceptional creative credentials. It is a major strategic step which adds a highly complementary business to our group in Australia.

“We have a strong group of market leading agencies in media, performance media, digital marketing, event and sport, and now advertising. By working alongside each other as one cohesive team we have the opportunity to create further advantage for our clients and our business.”

A little more than a week ago, on January 25, Dentsu Aegis Network appointed its first US chief executive officer, Rob Horler, who is currently Dentsu Aegis Northern Europe chief executive officer. Horler will report to Nigel Morris, chief executive officer of the Dentsu Aegis Network, Americas and EMEA when he moves into the role (and new York) in April. This, and the acquisition of BWM in Australia, seem to fit with the company’s stated intention (2014) to generate 55% of its revenues outside Japan by 2017.