National marketing firm buys Marlin Network

What had been the largest locally owned advertising firm in the Springfield area is now a division of an Irvine, Calif.-based company known to market national names Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson and Mars.

On Aug. 31, Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC acquired Springfield advertising and marketing firm Marlin Network Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

With 140 employees and annual gross revenue of over $15 million, according to Springfield Business Journal list research, Marlin Network has a client list that represents some 80 food and beverage brands with companies such as Unilever, Nestle and Starbucks.

Marlin Network CEO Dennis Marlin, who launched the company in 1985 and introduced an employee stock ownership plan in 2012, will lead the Springfield division for Advantage. He said the firm’s employees would remain.

“They are the beneficiary of this transaction being an ESOP company,” Marlin said. “We used an independent trustee to negotiate that on their part.”

Marlin Network employees contacted by SBJ declined to comment and referred all questions to Marlin.  

Marlin said the deal was in the works for about a year. Around that same time, Advantage also was courting another Springfield food-branding agency, Noble & Associates Inc.

Founder Bob Noble said he made it clear to Advantage representatives he wanted his agency to remain independent.

“Once you become an in-house agency for a major service organization, you loose your objectivity in fully representing the brand’s interests,” Noble said. “Being a captive, in-house agency, you really represent the interest of the selling organization that sells the product, so you essentially have two bosses.”

Advantage executives could not be reached for comment.

Now, Noble runs the largest independent advertising agency in the Springfield area.

“The deal was good for Dennis Marlin, and the deal was good for Bob Noble,” he said.

The two advertising executives have a work history. Marlin worked for Noble before branching out to launch Marlin Network 30 years ago.

Today, Marlin Network, which will keep its name, comprises seven affiliates: Marlin Co., Deep, Food IQ, The Alchemedia Project, Marlin Network University, Star Awards and Marlin Network Consulting Group. The 1987-founded Advantage has over 40,000 employees providing marketing services to such industries as food services, retail and consumer electronics.

“I will still maintain the same role running the company,” Marlin said. “And all of our brand names stay in place. This gives us an opportunity to grow and add talent in the marketplace. It gives us a chance to offer more services to our clients.”

Additional service opportunities would come from Marlin Network’s ability to lean on Advantage’s data analytics, resources and personnel, he said.

As a marketing and food-brokerage company, Noble said Advantage is heavily business-to-business focused, with selling often focused on the back end to retailers such as Wal-Mart and distributors such as Associated Wholesale Grocers.

“They want to be a one-stop shop for food brands,” he said.

Noble suspects Marlin Network clients may think twice about the sale.

“It would surprise me if the Starbucks of the world stay with a company that is owned by a food-brokerage company,” Noble said.

Last month, Marlin Network ranked No. 4,456 on the annual fast-growth Inc. 5000 list. With 2014 revenue of $15.2 million, the company posted three-year revenue growth of 59 percent.

“I get to kind of shepherd it into the next phase of growth,” Marlin said, noting he has no immediate plans to retire. “Marlin Network has always been about change.

“This is just another evolution.”