Plymouth-headquartered brands communications agency Fuel has merged with another Ocean City digital agency – and expanded by opening a branch in Birmingham’s new £22million enterprise facility.
The merger with Ruckus Marketing, based in the University of Plymouth’s Marine Building, is the product of three years of close collaboration between the companies.
It also follows hot on the heels of Fuel’s acquisition of immersive technology company One Polygon, in late 2019.
Fuel and Rukus have been working together driving “significant growth” for clients in the e-commerce, leisure, education, health, and hospitality sectors, and have decided to fully tie the knot.
The merger sees Ruckus’ Ed Watson become creative director and Alem Al-Khamiri become digital director.
Fuel’s business development director Steve Gyseman said: “This is the latest in a series of investments to fuel further demand for our clients. After launching in the affiliate marketing space and 2017 and immersive in 2019, we now have in-house skills set that very few agencies can match.”
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Mr Watson said: “The merger provides our digital marketing clients with access to more skills and services to support their ambitions in 2020 and beyond.”
Fuel, which is now based at Plymouth’s The Crescent, was also started at the University of Plymouth, in its award-winning Formation Zone incubation facility in 2008. Fuel now has satellite offices in Bristol and London to support its UK and international client base.
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Ruckus, founded in 2016, and Fuel will now scale up their new Birmingham office where Mr Al-Khamiri will be based. It will open its new office in March 2020, at STEAMhouse, Birmingham City University’s new £22.2million enterprise and collaboration facility.
Fuel’s managing director Martyn King said: “This merger brings two very talented professionals into our strategic leadership and offers us a great opportunity to grow from the Midlands in collaboration with Birmingham City University.”
Mr Al-Khamiri said: “We’re delighted to join Fuel Communications and are excited about playing lead roles in driving the agency forward.”
The deal with Ruckus is Fuel’s second in recent months, following the acquisition of One Polygon, also a former Formation Zone business.
The deal saw One Polygon’s managing director Vicktor Brelsford join Fiel to head its new Fuel Immersive brand which aims to rapidly grow its share of what is already an estimated £1billion market in the UK - covering virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR) and 360 degree creative.
One Polygone was founded in 2016 by Mr Brelsford and has grown to become an immersive partner across a range of sectors working with the likes of Kamadoe Joe, Signature Lodge and the University of Plymouth.
It has worked on stunning immersive technology which allowed people to virtually roam about on a luxury yacht, inside a posh house, or even in the Atacama desert.
That latter project was in partnership with the University of Plymouth where it created a VR archaeology programme which allowed users to hunt for artefacts in the sands of South America’s desolate Atacama.
