Deloitte Digital Announces Acquisition of Award-winning Advertising Agency Heat

NEW YORK, Feb. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte announced today that it has acquired substantially all the assets of Heat, an award-winning, full-service advertising agency based in San Francisco. The addition of Heat continues a series of strategic Deloitte investments evolving its Deloitte Digital practice. The result is the world's first creative digital consultancy^SM, a model which transforms the way C-suites approach business in the digital age; the result is greater ownership of, and return on, end-to-end customer experience. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Heat will continue to operate within Deloitte Digital as a full-service advertising agency, working across traditional, digital, and social media. Heat's delivery of authentic engagements between consumers and the brands they love complements Deloitte Digital's deep industry knowledge, business transformation, organizational change and versatile technology experience. The result is a transformative perspective that guides chief marketing officers to reimagine their customers' experience comprehensively and answers businesses' needs for a holistic connection between their brands and the consumer. 

"Deloitte Digital has created a new market category called creative digital consulting," said Andy Main, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Deloitte Digital's chief executive. "Adding Heat's extraordinary and award-winning creative capabilities is the perfect complement to our market-leading and long-established digital business. We are the single place for our clients to go to connect business strategy with creative strategy and content, customer experience, core business operations, transformational technology, and campaign execution. We combine creative chops with the powerful Deloitte platform to help our clients find their own disruptive advantage."

Deloitte's creative digital consultancy model was founded from the desire to provide clients with a full-service solution for their business needs. Clients no longer have to work with multiple agencies and consulting firms, as both creative and business strategy will now come from the same team. The acquisition will allow for the creation and execution of more strategically-driven engagement that C-suite executives are asking for, and enable delivery of comprehensive end-to-end offerings that are designed to help CMOs and all members of the C-suite reimagine the business and customer experience.

"After an amazing 2015 we had a big decision to make – stay the course or shoot for bigger, more immediate creative opportunities. We picked the latter," said Steve Stone, chairman and executive creative director, Heat. "Joining forces with Deloitte gives us a ton of opportunities. It allows us to showcase our work on a bigger stage, provides us with greater resources, and gives us access to client relationships that will allow our creatives to do the best work of their careers. Others have approached us over the years, but nothing felt right to us. We're really fired up for this. Deloitte understands the importance of our brand and culture and will help us protect it as we grow together."

Heat was founded in 2004 and has grown exponentially in its 11-year history. In 2015, Heat won eight Cannes Lions and was named Adweek's "Breakthrough Agency of the Year." President John Elder, founder Steve Stone, and Managing Director Mike Barrett will continue in their current roles with Heat.

About Deloitte Consulting LLP
Deloitte helps organizations grow their businesses and enhance value by identifying actionable insights. More than 23,000 professionals provide a broad range of capabilities across human capital, strategy and operations, innovation and technology that are aligned to the particular needs of specific sectors, businesses and organizations. Deloitte provides clients with leading business insights that can help generate a tangible and measurable impact. Deloitte Digital is a service line of Deloitte Consulting LLP.

About Deloitte Digital
Deloitte member firm digital practices (Deloitte Digital) are creating a new model for a new age — a creative digital consultancy. That means bringing together all the creative and technology capabilities, business acumen and industry insight needed to help transform our clients' businesses with digital. With Deloitte Digital's end-to-end capabilities, clients bring their biggest challenges, knowing we've got what it takes to bring a new business vision to life. Let us show you how. Visit www.deloittedigital.com or follow us on Twitter @DeloitteDigi_US or @DeloitteDigital.

About Heat
Heat is a full-service creative agency that believes in the power of surprise to build brands, solve problems, and kindly take over the world. Based in San Francisco and founded in 2004, Heat develops traditional, digital and social content for a wide array of brands including: Electronic Arts, Dolby and Hotwire. The internationally recognized award-winning agency won 70 awards in 2015 with eight Cannes Lions to their credit. In addition to their Lion wins, Heat is the only advertising agency on San Francisco's Best Places to Work list two years running and is one of the Effie organization's top 10 Most Effective Independent Agencies in North America. Visit www.sfheat.com.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

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SOURCE Deloitte Digital

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