Live brand agency acquires New-York based firm Folk Hero

Global live brand storytelling agency INVNT has announced the acquisition of Folk Hero, a New York-based brand strategy firm that has worked with international companies, including fashion and lifestyle group Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) and organisations in the financial services sector. Financial details of the acquisition were not revealed. The move should see INVNT provide brand strategy services to new clients outside the agency’s existing live brand storytelling client network. Folk Hero was established by brand strategist Rob Klingensmith, who has also held roles at Omnicom-owned advertising agencies Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and TBWA in San Francisco, as well as Marcel Worldwide in Paris, where he led a global brand strategy team. As CEO, Klingensmith will lead and grow Folk Hero’s offering as a part of the INVNT and HEVĒ family. Klingensmith said: “Developing stories is what drives me, and I am thrilled to be joining an agency that shares this passion for brand storytelling in all forms.” He will work out of INVNT’s New York headquarters, reporting to Chief Creative Officer, Paul Blurton (pictured), who explained: “Folk Hero is the ideal complement to the live and digital brand storytelling capabilities provided by INVNT and HEVĒ. “Working as we do across numerous industries and clients, it’s always so refreshing to meet companies that have devoted time and effort to creating their own master brand narrative. It becomes the wellspring for every other creative expression of that brand. This is what Folk Hero does so effectively, and it’s why this acquisition makes so much sense.” Kristina McCoobery, COO at INVNT added: “At a time when many of the old rules of marketing are changing, we believe that the brands with the best stories, told well, will win. And when our clients win, we win.”