Leeds-based omnichannel creative content agency Ride Shotgun has acquired PIX-US, a specialist CGI company based in North Carolina.
This follows the acquisition of Silicon Valley-based Volume Group in March, giving the agency a presence on both the East and West coasts of the US.
The deal enables Ride Shotgun to deliver all of its content capabilities (from photography and video production to CGI, AR/VR and immersive) on both sides of the Atlantic, for a global client base already including Intuit, Diageo, KAO, Tempur Sealy, HSBC and Amazon.
The addition of the PIX-US team sees the agency’s headcount reach 200 across the UK, US, EU and Asia, with revenues now over $20m.
PIX-US, a North American Computer Generated Image (CGI) Agency, has been creating photorealistic content for retail and consumer brands for over a decade. Ride Shotgun and PIX-US have worked together for a number of years and the acquisition combines their in-house teams with PIX’s extensive experience of the North American Market.
Mark Mallinder, CEO of Ride Shotgun, said: “The incredible team from Volume, who already have a strong track record of delivering technology driven solutions for their US clients, has now been strengthened by PIX-US. PIX has been producing stunning visual content for some great brands and we are really excited to add our expertise and support to their team.
“This is a great opportunity for us to replicate our success in the UK for the American market by offering strategy, production, and activation, through our customer centric approach. Volume and PIX already excel in these areas, and their integration into the wider Ride Shotgun business will add even further value to our clients.”
Stewart Fortune, MD, PIX-US, added: “Having known the team at Ride Shotgun for quite a few years this is the perfect opportunity for us to strengthen our current offering. We are already valued for our photorealistic CGI imagery and visualiser tools and we can now offer creative content strategy and activation as well as broader production solutions to better serve the needs of our customers.”
Joanna South, who joined Ride Shotgun from Volume in March, and is now SVP Ride Shotgun US, added: “We are looking forward to expanding further across North America with an end to end offer as a global marketing support partner.”
