The Shipyard Acquires Innovation Consultancy TOMORRO\\\ To Accelerate "BIG DATA. BIG IDEAS."

Marketing Icon Jon Bond Named "Co-Chairman & Chief Tomorroist"

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Mar 14, 2017, 10:20 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Shipyard, an independent marketing firm, today announces the acquisition of TOMORRO\\\, an innovation consultancy led by marketing icon Jon Bond – combining the companies' strategic, creative and data-centric talents to address rising demand from businesses seeking to inoculate themselves against Disruption.

In addition, Bond has been named to the new position of Co-Chairman and Chief Tomorroist. Rick Milenthal, CEO and Co-Founder of The Shipyard, serves as Co-Chairman.

Jon Bond - Co-Chairman & Chief Tomorroist, The Shipyard; Rick Milenthal CEO & Co-Chariman, The Shipyard

Based in New York, TOMORRO\\\ was formed in 2012 and provides The Shipyard with exceptional top talent and consulting capabilities while complementing its "Engine Room" suite of services. Terms of the deal are non-disclosed.

"All marketers face disruption and the opportunity to build something special and transformational with Jon to address this is bar none," comments Milenthal. "He and his TOMORRO\\\ team have an exceptional track record at accelerating brand value. Their fresh insights and perspective will take this company to new heights and aggressively meld quantitative and qualitative capabilities essential to today's successful businesses. "

Commenting on his new appointment, Bond notes:

"Chief Tomorroist is a key role at a time when tomorrow's new idea quickly becomes yesterday's dinosaur. My favorite way to start a meeting is asking 'What you are going to see that wasn't possible 5 years ago, and maybe not even 2 years ago?' "

Big Data Leads To Big Creativity

Importantly, The Shipyard and TOMORRO\\\ share a fundamental belief that Big Data Leads To Big Creativity. Their recently published CMO.COM piece, co-authored by Jon Bond and The Shipyard's President Ben Clarke, dispels a common myth that data is the enemy of creativity. Instead, it shows how data might just lead us into a creative renaissance.

Bond adds: "In the 90s, brand planning created a symbiotic relationship with creative people that made the work better. I think we can foster that same kind of relationship with creativity and data."

M&A Marketing Landscape

TOMORRO\\\ is the latest in a string of recent acquisitions by The Shipyard, including West Coast ad agency O'Leary & Partners; Content Marketing pioneer, Revolocity; and design shop, Stream Digital.

Mergers and acquisitions within marketing landscape have skyrocketed over the past year – particularly across digital agencies, ad-tech companies and analytic firms. The Shipyard's announcement dovetails with the current trend of consulting firms becoming more closely aligned with marketing communications; i.e. IBM and Resource Ammirati; Accenture and Karmarama; Deloitte and boutique agency Heat, to name a few.

About The Shipyard

The Shipyard is a leading, independent marketing consultancy and the world's first "marketing engineering" firm. It has experienced exponential growth since its inception in 2013 and is creating digital transformation for the world's most significant brands - where high velocity content creation meets big data, where competitive strategy meets creative and disruptive advertising.

The company was co-founded by industry veteran Rick Milenthal, who was CEO of the leading national digital agency, Engauge, now a part of Publicis Groupe; and marketing technology pioneer, Ben Clarke, who was CEO of People To My Site.

With offices in Columbus, Denver, New York City and Southern California. clients include Nationwide Insurance, Scotts Miracle Gro, In-N-Out Burger, WD-40, CO-OP Financial Services, Angie's List, Fantastic Sams, Weleda and many more.

About Jon Bond

Jon Bond is one of the advertising and marketing industry's most recognized thought leaders and entrepreneurs. He has developed several significant companies and marketing concepts over his 30-year career. He was Co-founder and CEO of Kirshenbaum Bond and Partners (KBP). In 2010, KBP sold to MDC. Billings were approximately $1B at the time and clients included BMW, Citi, Victoria's Secret, Target, Wendy's, and the Coca Cola Company. From 2010 to 2012, Jon was CEO of Big Fuel (now part of Publicis), one of the world's largest social media agencies. Big Fuel's clients included General Motors, Gatorade, Chase, and T-Mobile. In addition, Jon co-founded and sold one of the first online media agencies (iballs) to Microsoft in 2000.

About TOMORRO\\\ LLC

Founded by Jon Bond, TOMORRO\\\ LLC is a consultancy designed to accelerate brand value through the adoption of the most forward-thinking marketing approaches and technologies.

TOMORRO\\\ is an active investor and advisor in ad technology companies including DSPs DataXu, Dstillery, Simplifi; data company Crosspixel; bot fraud company WhiteOps; premium programmatic company Sonobi; social listening pioneer Crimson Hexagon; E Commerce company Shopbeam; and video marketing companies Sightly, Vilnyx and Dashbid.

Contact:     Lynne Collins
                    1.646.286.4724
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SOURCE The Shipyard