Dentsu Buys NYC Agency Firstborn

Dentsu continues to make up for lost time in the U.S., buying New York-City based creative agency Firstborn for an undisclosed sum. The deal follows recent purchases of mcgarrybowen in 2008 and 360i and SearchIgnite in 2010.

Firstborn employs 65 and counts Pepsi, AT&T, and Wrigley among its clients. Its service menu includes video production, creative direction, digital strategy, and software development.

Wrigley selected Firstborn in 2009 - along with two others, EVB and Big Spaceship - to replace Omnicom agencies Agency.com and Tribal DDB, as well as Publicis Worldwide's Digitas. For Wrigley's Orbit brand Firstborn created an image recognition technology with scannable logos embedded on gum packs. The campaign was a tie-in with the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" DVD release.

The agency will be housed within the recently-established Dentsu Network West division, the Japanese holding company's North American, Latin American, and European arm. Firstborn's trio of senior executives - founder and CEO Michael Ferdman, President Dan LaCivita, and Chief Creative Officer Joon Yong Park - will remain in place.