Core media group investing €7.5m in restructuring and relocation project

CORE, Ireland’s largest mediabuying agency with billings of €220m, is investing €7.5m this year as it restructures the business and completes a relocation to a custom-build creative space at 1 Windmill Lane in Dublin.

The marketing communications company, whose units include Mediaworks, Sparkfoundry, Starcom and Zenith, will formally unveil its business plan this evening at an event attended by music producer Steve Lillywhite.

He’s a multi-Grammy award winner who has worked with artists including U2, the Pogues, the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and Morrissey. Core employs 310 and until recently operated as a group of nine separate companies. To facilitate enhanced collaboration, the business has now been transformed into one company of nine practices across disciplines including data, research, recruitment, creative and sponsorship.

“For the last 30 years, the advertising industry has been obsessed with specialisation, necessitating clients to hire a number of different agencies to produce one marketing campaign,” said Core chief executive Alan Cox. “Working in silos stifles creativity and results, no matter how talented the individual teams are.”

Core is 16pc-owned by French media giant Publicis, and the remainder by management.

“Core is not moving away from specialisation – far from it,” insisted Mr Cox. “Collaboration is a powerful and essential element of world-class marketing campaigns. We are advocating that specialists must be brought together and not kept apart.”

Core’s non-executive chairman is Patrick Coveney, the chief executive of the Greencore food group.

Consisting of 24,000 sq ft across one floor, Core’s new location has been custom built to foster innovation and collaboration, and includes a special CoLab space, where teams come together to thrash out ideas and solve problems for clients. The property was developed by Hibernia REIT, and Core signed up last year to a 21-year lease.

It’s paying an initial annual rent of €1.4m, including contributions to the reception and town hall areas and car parking.

The building extends over 124,000 sq ft of office space and 8,000 sq ft of retail. It also includes 14 residential units.