NEW YORK, USA — Meet The People, the innovative new alternative to the big advertising holding company model launched by Tim Ringel in 2021, announced the addition of Portsmouth, NH-based Saltwater Collective to its roster of agencies.
The full-service digital agency joins the Meet The People group of companies, VSA Partners, Public Label, Match Transact, and Match Retail, adding significant digital capabilities to the expanding group. With the completion of the deal, Meet The People grows to 550 employees across North America.
“We’re excited to welcome Saltwater Collective to our group,” said Meet The People Founder and Global CEO Tim Ringel. “We’ve been impressed by Saltwater’s team, client work, and thinking since our very first meeting — especially in terms of their digital production and media capabilities. I’m excited to introduce Saltwater to our team across the Meet The People agencies and our incredible roster of clients.”
Saltwater Co-founder Christopher Griffin agreed, “This is a better connection of like-minded and talented individuals than we could have imagined. Our team will gain access to diverse colleagues and grow from next-level challenges, flexing their creative and technical strengths on a larger scale. In return, we’re excited to share Saltwater’s creative interdisciplinary processes with our new partners to enhance their clients’ digital experiences.”
Meet The People has been on a significant growth trajectory. In just under two years since its founding in 2021 and with strategic and financial support through Innovatus Capital Partners LLC, the New York-based portfolio management firm, Meet The People has already completed multiple acquisitions.
“We are pleased to welcome the Saltwater Collective to Meet The People given their experienced and creative management team and complimentary business in digital and traditional media that will continue to expand our portfolio of offerings for clients,” said Innovatus CEO and Founding Partner David Schiff.
With the Saltwater Collective acquisition completed, Meet The People moves further toward its goal of growing the agency group to over 1,500 people in the near future.
“It’s truly gratifying to find that our positioning and vision are so inspiring to independent agencies across North America and Europe. And our goal to create the first people- and client-centric advertising group of scale is resonating well with agency founders, with talent across all advertising trades, and of course among our growing roster of clients,” Tim Ringel added.
“Saltwater has been positioned to grow for some time,” said Saltwater Co-founder Mike Carella. “We’ve been looking for a group to join that would allow us to maximize our potential, expand our services to our clients and give our team more experience and greater opportunities, all while retaining the culture and identity we’ve created here.”
Under Meet The People’s innovative new organizational approach, all of the roster agencies work closely together as a community in a single ownership structure, while retaining independence as a core strength to establish their own identity and culture. By combining entrepreneurially minded firms into one fully integrated platform, Meet The People is able to bring specialized services to clients while providing fully integrated agency-of-record solutions to these brands at the same time.
“With this model, we give our clients what they really want,” said Tim. “Integrated thinking, better services, faster solutions, less friction, and deep expertise, all in a collaborative and transparent manner. It’s definitely a winning solution for everyone” he added.
Saltwater Collective and its capabilities are immediately available to the Meet The People clients through VSA Partners, Public Label, and Match Retail.
For more information, please visit MeetThePeople.com.
