Overture Promotions Makes First Acquisition in Europe

The Counselor Top 40 company has purchased Sweden-based distributor Brandon and formed the Overture Marketing Group. Brandon generated $22 million in 2023 revenue.

Counselor Top 40 distributor Overture Promotions (asi/288473) has acquired Brandon, a promotional products distributor headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, that also has an office in Shanghai.

Financial terms of the deal were not released, but executives noted that through the move the companies have formed Overture Marketing Group, an international promo business that has plans for more acquisitions and geographical expansion. Brandon generated $22 million in revenue in 2023. Combined, Overture Marketing Group is projecting about $150 million in total global revenue in 2024.

Founded in 1987 as a logistics and trading company, Brandon moved into the branded merchandise market in 2000. Customers include PUMA, Volvo Cars, Mercedes F1, Ferrari, Arsenal F.C. and Saint Laurent.

The firm is keeping its name and structure, operating as a member of Overture Marketing Group. Brandon CEO Amanda Wyatt will continue in that role, reporting to Overture CEO Jo Gilley, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people.

“The Brandon team is so impressive, from their wildly creative approach to creating custom branded merchandise portfolios for their customers, to their world-class systems and infrastructure, to their well-run distribution center,” said Gilley. “We are already hitting the ground running, collaborating on several global customers and creating opportunities to learn from each other – a true win-win for our customers and employees.”

Brandon specializes in what company leaders described as full-service brand merchandise, retail support and scale models. The firm focuses on custom product creation, direct sourcing and sustainability, which includes reducing emissions and eliminating PVC products from its offerings. With a team of 50 professionals, Brandon distributes its solutions to more than 120 countries annually. In 2009, PUMA acquired Brandon, but Brandon management bought the company back in 2016.

The firm is excited to team up with Overture Promotions.

“Our complementary strengths and shared vision create a powerful synergy that will drive us forward,” said Wyatt. “We are confident that this new chapter with Overture will enhance our capabilities and enable us to deliver even greater value to our global clients.”

Gilley noted that this is Overture Promotions’ first acquisition in Europe. The move continues a growing trend of North American-based Counselor Top 40 distributors increasing their presence in Europe through strategic acquisitions.

For instance, Counselor Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi/202900) has been consistently acquiring competitors in Europe since 2018, including this year’s acquisitions of Brandelity in England and WER GmbH in Germany.

Building on past European acquisitions, Counselor Top 40 distributor BDA (asi/137616) last year bought Germany-based ipm | gruppe and this year purchased U.K.-based sports merch firm The Great Branding Company. Meanwhile, Counselor Top 40 distributor Myron (asi/278980) has gotten in on the action too, buying German distributor Schneider GmbH in February.

At the end of August, ASI Research released an exclusive study that showed that distributors in the European promotional products market generated about $14.1 billion in sales in 2023. The study analyzed the United Kingdom, the 27 nations of the European Union and three additional geographically European countries – Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

Based on reported 2023 North American promotional product revenue of $122 million, Overture Promotions ranked 23rd on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. Overture’s parent company is Westbridge Capital, a Canadian private equity firm that backed the Brandon acquisition.

Woman-led and certified minority-owned, Overture specializes in what it describes as end-to-end in-house services, including global sourcing and shipping, graphic design, webstore development, screen printing, embroidery, kitting, and pick pack. The company has made efforts to operate with sustainability in mind, earning an EcoVadis silver ranking and hiring an ESG compliance specialist.