Footprint took a majority stake in May Amber Ltd, trading as Freedom-CS, on 7 February, taking on the whole team, including Freedom-CS’ owner Liz Clarke as a director and the group’s new dedicated head of marketing.
Footprint will now restructure under Footprint’s holding company, HED marketing Limited, into four dedicated business units: one each for marketing, signage, advertising, and shared services such as finance, HR and operations.
Freedom-CS’ £450,000 operation will prove vital to Footprint’s re-organisation following the three-mile move to Swanwick, according to Footprint managing director, Darren Jacobs.
“In the group, we effectively had a fragmented set of marketing agencies that we were trying to make work together – and they were, to an extent, but with Liz we now have someone on the group board solely responsible for the agency side of the business, and unlocking that potential,” Jacobs said.
“She has a very strategic mind, and is ahead of the curve where marketing is concerned – she has a great handle on AI. She’s come along to help us bring the teams together and really maximise the opportunity we have across the group.”
The Freedom-CS acquisition follows hot on the heels of the firm’s November 2024 purchase of Swindon-based wide-format printer, C3 Marketing. Before the acquisition, all of Footprint’s signage work had been outsourced: since then, C3 has picked up around £700,000 in new business, taking it to a £1.7m operation within the group.
Footprint has further acquisitions in the pipeline to bolster its print and advertising circular businesses, too, with Jacobs in negotiations currently to take on a print business that would allow the group to print its advertising magazines in-house.
“There’s an argument to say that we’ve de-risked by not having loads of expensive kit knocking around, but it’s also true that we’re losing margin out the door by outsourcing so much,” Jacobs said.
“We spend the best part of £300,000 a year printing the magazines with a competitor of ours – so buying some litho kit would bring that in-house.”
To make matters more complex, the firm is also looking at another acquisition that would expand the reach of its own Hampshire and Southern England circular, printed under the Forget Me Not brand – itself acquired in 2024.
Since 2023, Footprint’s headcount has swelled rapidly from 11 to around 40 staff over three sites.
“We took the business over a year and a half ago with a view to getting up towards £3m [turnover] within three years, and we’re now forecasting just over £4m this financial year,” Jacobs said.
“When we’re looking at acquisitions, we’re looking at what our customers buy from other sources. Originally, we were a print business.
“Then we moved into being a print and marketing business, because if the customer is printing a load of flyers, they’re usually doing it for some kind of marketing campaign: it’s a natural conversation to ask about wrapping a social media campaign around it.”
