Two Rivers Marketing has been acquired by multi-media company, Woodward Communications. That’s very interesting. We’re certainly living in a different world today when it comes to media and marketing.
Woodward Communications, Inc. (WCI), a Dubuque-based employee-owned multimedia company operating in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, has acquired Two Rivers Marketing, a well-known Des Moines marketing firm specializing in business-to-business communications.
In October, Two Rivers Marketing will become a wholly owned subsidiary of WCI, allowing Two Rivers Marketing to continue operating independently with the same organizational structure and business practices that have made the firm successful, according to Tom Yunt, WCI president and CEO.
WCI currently has nearly 600 employee owners across six operating divisions: daily newspapers, including the Dubuque Telegraph Herald; weekly publications; radio broadcasting; commercial printing; niche magazines; and Mission Creative, a full-service advertising agency based in Dubuque. The Woodward family through four generations has been involved in the organization since 1898, but the company traces its heritage back to 1836 and the founding of Iowa’s first newspaper — the Dubuque Visitor — which became the Telegraph Herald in 1901.
Two Rivers Marketing employs 75 associates and was founded in 2000. The agency provides advertising, public relations, media and interactive services for business-to-business clients in the construction and mining, agricultural, industrial, environmental, and financial services industries.
WCI has developed a long-term growth and diversification strategy and will be actively looking for companies to acquire and invest in for several years. Marketing services companies are one of the potential growth and diversification sectors identified by WCI, and Two Rivers Marketing falls into this area of WCI’s strategic plan.