R/GA Makes First-Ever Acquisition With AI Studio Addition

R/GA has made its first acquisition in its almost 50 12 months historical past: AI system design studio Addition.The deal comes lower than a 12 months after R/GA was bought by IPG and to a gaggle of its leaders, with majority backing from non-public fairness agency Truelink Capital. Phrases weren’t disclosed. It was funded by R/GA’s Innovation Fund, launched in March 2025 with $50 million to assist expertise investments, product improvement, partnerships, and acquisitions.World CEO Robin Forbes described the acquisition as “a long-term strategic funding,” which the company is now in a position to make as “a definite benefit of our independence” after being bought from IPG.“As R/GA continues to embrace new expertise in service of creativity, we imagine AI presents maybe probably the most potent alternative but,” Forbes advised ADWEEK. “Addition, constructed from the bottom up as an AI system design and improvement studio, slots completely into this imaginative and prescient.”Based in 2021 by Paul Aaron and Rick Barber, Addition has labored with purchasers together with Google, Amazon, NBCU, Unilever, Prudential, and The New York Instances.Addition’s 12-person workforce, in addition to its community of AI consultants, will be a part of R/GA, however the firm will retain its model. Forbes stated Addition will proceed to go to market with its impartial providing whereas additionally lending its capabilities to R/GA extra broadly.“This permits Addition to retain a degree of independence, allows them to proceed to service their core purchasers as regular, and permits them to collaborate on R/GA shopper work,” he defined.Aaron and Barber will be a part of R/GA’s international govt administration workforce, reporting to Forbes and dealing alongside chair and international chief inventive officer Tiffany Rolfe, chief expertise officer Nick Coronges, and chief technique officer Melissa Jackson Parsey.“Becoming a member of R/GA represents a possibility for us to embed our strategy to AI inside a really international and progressive firm,” Aaron stated in a press release shared with ADWEEK. “R/GA’s inventive tradition, historical past of innovation, and ambition to steer the intelligence age makes this the right partnership. We’ve all the time needed to form the way forward for manufacturers and this acquisition will allow us to take action on a a lot bigger scale.”Forbes stated the deal is a component of a bigger technique to deepen R/GA’s AI capabilities, positioning the company to design customized methods and instruments for purchasers.“Whereas R/GA has sturdy AI technique and product capabilities, Addition brings a really specialised, deep experience in AI system design and improvement,” he stated. “They provide purchasers entry to new, sensible minds who’re on the forefront of AI innovation, which is a uncommon expertise pool.”R/GA and Addition already share purchasers, together with Google, and have labored collectively on earlier initiatives and pitches. The 2 corporations have already started integrating their operations. Wanting forward, Forbes stated extra acquisitions might comply with.“Our Innovation Fund is particularly designed for ongoing investments,” he stated. “It’s integral to our long-term technique, permitting us to pursue additional strategic partnerships and acquisitions, and to constantly evolve our capabilities within the quickly advancing AI panorama.”