Stagwell acquires US experiential design firm Tinsel

Stagwell has acquired experiential marketing and design studio Tinsel Experiential Design, it announced on Tuesday.

The women-led firm, which specializes in immersive and experiential marketing, will join Stagwell’s Constellation Network of agencies, which includes 72andSunny, ColleMcVoy and The Harris Poll, adding creative resources and integrated production capabilities for larger projects and clients.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tinsel, which has clients including Sony Music Entertainment, Github, Pfizer and Uber, brings experience in environmental design, 3D renderings and conference and corporate events to Stagwell, which is looking to bolster its experiential capabilities as people return to live events post-COVID.

For instance, the company has invested in ARound, its AR platform for large-scale venues. Stagwell declined to share the size of the investment.

With Tinsel, Stagwell wants to add deeper experiential expertise, particularly around corporate events, to the network.

“Tinsel understands modern experiential design..where the social content and promotional efforts around the actual event are every bit as important as the actual event. They do a really good job of preheating events, executing but then also capturing social content and [creating] long tail social extensions,” said Justin Lewis, chair of Constellation Network. 

“For most of the businesses that we partner with now, a lot of investment goes into things like trade shows or experiences or design activations,” he continued.

As part of Stagwell, Tinsel will retain its brand, and its founders – Adette C. Contreras, Liz Castelli and Erica Taylor Haskins – will remain in leadership roles. The company will continue to operate out of New York.

Stagwell maintains that Tinsel’s culture and operations will largely remain intact, while the holding company helps to grow the business. Tinsel’s leadership will report to Lewis.

The agency will retain its clients while supporting large projects and clients within the Constellation Network.

“We're big believers in maximum stability in these organizations,” he said.

Leadership from another Constellation Network experiential agency, Team Enterprises, will support Tinsel as it transitions into the holding company.

Stagwell’s acquisition of Tinsel closed during its third financial quarter, but the agency will begin operating as part of Stagwell by Q4. Tinsel’s earnings will be recorded as part of the Constellation Network, which falls under the integrated agency networks segment in Stagwell’s financial statements.