Completed in late July, the process saw Intervino folded into DPS Digital, with Intervino head Amy Lennox taking up the role of CEO at the Sleaford firm, now called IV Creative.
Launched in 2012, DPS Digital has grown rapidly to a team of 100, turning over around £10m annually, with major clients including Moonpig.
Intervino, founded in 2006, has counted major international brands among its clients, including Doritos, Coca-Cola and Diageo, for whom it has provided personalised packaging, gifting and fulfillment services.
Most memorable of these might be the firm’s role in Coca-Cola’s personalisation campaign where people could order glass bottles printed with a personalised name; the campaign propelled the firm – and major supplier DPS Digital – to new heights, winning it major personalisation campaigns from McVities, Marmite and many others.
“Coca-Cola was the first enterprise brand to really look at this, and try to work out how it could scale [the personalisation] – it was an amazing project, and it definitely paved the way for our success,” Lennox told Printweek.
From a business perspective, the merger made simple sense, Lennox said, with Intervino and DPS Digital already sharing a number of clients.
“They were co-owned by the same board, with common clients,” she explained. “One was able to service the fulfillment in print, and the other was able to service the agency side, so web builds, creative design and packaging.
“The board looked at those businesses individually, saw they were both very profitable, and thought they would be better as a single powerhouse rather than as standalone entities.”
Now, the firm is organised into four units: concept, production, print and fulfillment.
“The merger has combined the core services from both companies to deliver an end-to-end solution for brands wanting to sell online,” she said.
The two companies were well used to working with each other, she added, so the merger has been “seamless”.
“The two businesses have worked hand-in-hand for years now, and the core teams know each other really well.”
Notwithstanding this mutual respect, Lennox and the other directors – an even split between men and women – have made sure to iron out the merger with more formal processes.
“We’ve done lots of cross-skilling internally, lots of investment in the sales team and outreach, and we’ve been marketing both internally and externally to help everyone know we’re united as one.”
