Who has Motion Agency acquired?

Vehr Communications, a Cincinnati-based integrated marketing and public relations firm founded in 2006 and part of the IPREX network since 2018. The deal takes effect on 1 October and financial terms were not disclosed.

How large is the combined agency?

Nearly 90 employees across three US offices in Cincinnati, Chicago and Nashville.

News

Motion Agency Buys Vehr And Doubles Down On Cincinnati

Ad Tribe! Bureau17 mins ago2 min read

A halftone paper cutout of a rubber stamp and a folded document on a flat coloured background

Motion Agency has acquired Vehr Communications, the Chicago-based independent communications agency buying the Cincinnati integrated marketing and PR firm to strengthen its presence in the US Midwest.

Effective 1 October; financial terms undisclosed
Takes Motion to nearly 90 employees across three offices in Cincinnati, Chicago and Nashville
Vehr founder and chief executive Nick Vehr joins Motion as executive vice president, focused on business development
Vehr Communications, founded 2006, has been part of the IPREX communications network since 2018
Motion, founded the same year, is a certified woman-owned business

The Second Bet On One City

The acquisition builds on Motion’s existing presence in Cincinnati, which it entered in 2023 by acquiring Rick Miller Communications. It is now looking to appoint its first Cincinnati-based creative director.

Buying twice in the same market is the detail that carries the most information. An independent with limited capital does not repeat an acquisition in a city unless the first one retained its clients and its people, and the creative director hire says the plan is to build capability there rather than simply hold accounts.

What Motion Agency Gets

Vehr provides integrated marketing and public relations to businesses and nonprofit organisations, and the deal adds its client relationships, communications expertise and local market presence to Motion’s wider US operation.

Nonprofit work is usually read as low-margin, and often is. It is also where an agency learns to make small budgets visible, which is a transferable skill in a market where mid-sized commercial clients increasingly brief at nonprofit budgets.

The Founder Stays, In The Growth Seat

Nick Vehr joins as executive vice president, focused on business development and driving growth for the combined agency.

That is the arrangement most likely to hold an acquisition together. An acquired founder parked in a title with no revenue responsibility tends to leave inside two years and take relationships along. Putting him on new business keeps the network he built pointed at the merged company rather than at his next thing.