Akron advertising and marketing agency WhiteSpace Creative is getting bigger.
The company has recently acquired Highland Public Relations and its seven employees. The acquisition was effective July 1. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
WhiteSpace President Keeven White was looking to fill a public relations opening at his growing firm when he connected with Bob Zajac, owner of Highland PR. Zajac had been talking with his employees about buying out the firm “and out of the blue, Keeven sent me an email and it was serendipity that everything just worked out beautifully,” he said. Zajac said he brought his seven employees in on the conversation early and “they were all very excited about the opportunity.”
While the two firms competed for business, they will also complement each other well, said White and Zajac. Highland PR specializes in public relations and WhiteSpace in marketing and advertising. Some of their combined clients now include the Akron Zoo, Cleveland Marathon, Kent State, American Greetings and Diebold.
All seven Highland employees are now WhiteSpace employees, including Zajac, who becomes executive vice president at WhiteSpace. For now, the Highland employees will stay at its visible West Market Street building (Zajac continues to own it) and a few WhiteSpace employees have joined them. White said he is pursuing opportunities in Akron to consolidate the 40 employees. The firm is also looking to hire five more employees.
Highland’s Leigh Greenfelder will become the new vice president of public relations for WhiteSpace.
This is the second acquisition for WhiteSpace in the last year. The firm bought Bath Township-based SmileyHanchulak last August.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3724 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/blinfisher and see all her stories at www.ohio.com/betty