The Client
LOCOMOTIVE acquired Mad Leads, a boutique paid media agency, in 2019 and was on track to growing its innovative paid media offerings. After joining Google’s International Growth Agency Program, the team broadened its offerings to assist clients with their international expansion efforts. The exposure to international markets led the team to consider further extending its offerings to align with these new opportunities.
Client:
LOCOMOTIVE
Industry:
Marketing
Solutions:
Marketing
Strategy
Brand & Design
The Challenge
With this expansion challenge, we had three main goals: enhance international offerings, fill our creative strategy gap, and maintain deep expertise in paid media and SEO. With these goals in mind, we started searching for an agency that would complement our culture and fulfill our needs of expanding service requirements.
To succeed, we would need to:
Enhance international offerings
Fill our creative strategy gap
Maintain deep expertise in paid media and SEO
IMS’s integration into LOCOMOTIVE introduces new capabilities such as branding, web design & development, and specialized import/export expertise, ensuring comprehensive online and offline strategies for effective market localization as clients venture into new international markets.
The merger of both agencies also addressed the complexities of business internationalization and leverages the benefits of IGAP for current and future clients.
IMS’s presence in the EU also broadens LOCOMOTIVE’s spectrum of global opportunities, ensures a more pronounced international presence and combines this expertise to help clients enter and thrive in new markets.
Originally an adept Technical SEO agency, our expertise was significantly broadened by acquiring Mad Leads, bringing deep knowledge in paid media and B2B expertise into our fold. Our growth strategy has always been to specialize, not to attempt mastering all trades in-house. This has continued with this acquisition, as IMS’s expertise lies in international strategy and branding.
The Outcome
In October 2023, LOCOMOTIVE acquired IMS, boosting revenue by 59%. The workforce has doubled, expanding into the EU. For the remainder of 2024 and into 2025, the focus will be on seamlessly merging the IMS brand into LOCOMOTIVE, illustrating how both brands complement each other to enhance the agency’s full-service capabilities. An integrated sales team will be created to leverage the agency’s combined strengths, and cross-global collaboration teams will be formalized to maximize efficiency and innovation.
- 34% Increase in Annual Revenue
- 25% Increase in Projected Revenue
- 8 New Clients & Cross Sells in 6 Months
Transforming Brands to Support Strategic Growth
At LOCOMOTIVE, we build brands that open doors — to new markets, better business opportunities and long-term commercial impact. Whether you are preparing to scale, expand internationally or position for investment, we streamline the path from ambition to outcome.
