Founded in 2009 by Ken Reig, Eight Oh Two is a PPC and SEO marketing agency offering a specialized suite of services including pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, and content marketing for eCommerce retailers across the US. Focused on helping direct-to-consumer brands implement data-driven, optimized search strategies that provide sustainable growth and measurable ROI, they enjoy a long roster of satisfied clients, a fully recurring retainer-based income, and healthy profit margins. With over 12 years of experience managing search campaigns for large retailers like Home Depot, Pure Hockey, and Orvis, Eight Oh Two is a go-to agency for strategic PPC and SEO services.

Exiting to Pursue Other Opportunities and Passions

After twelve years of providing growth opportunities for clients, Ken was excited to shift his focus to pursue greater opportunities for his agency. He felt like he was at a fork in the road where he had a chance to capitalize on his agency’s stellar services but didn’t know what was out there to help him. Ken partnered with us at Barney to find the perfect buyer to entrust with Eight Oh Two’s future.

We think he made a good call – with our industry specialization, simple process, shorter timeline, huge pool of strategic buyers, and long list of successful acquisitions behind us, we were uniquely qualified to find Eight Oh Two their perfect-fit buyer. That’s what we do at Barney: help entrepreneurs buy and sell amazing businesses, so they can keep pursuing their dreams.

One of the Fastest Growing Companies in America (with Plenty of Growth Ahead, Too) 

With a seasoned, fully remote team and tons of expertise in their industry, Eight Oh Two provides unprecedented insight into individual consumer networks and strategic PPC services that deliver tailored ads and tangible results. We loved them for it, and so did their clients: they boasted high client retention, years long average ongoing engagements, and the vast majority of their new business coming from happy client referrals.

It’s not just their clients who are happy, either. Eight Oh Two prides themselves on their positive work culture and high team morale, leading to high levels of productivity, impressive financial performance, and employee satisfaction and engagement. Their team members love their jobs and are good at what they do.

With streamlined business systems all aligned to support growth and scalability, long-lasting client relationships, ongoing retainer-based clients, and vast experience with high-profile clients giving them a proven track record and well-recognized reputation, Eight Oh Two is unique, profitable, and primed to scale with their existing team.

With opportunities to venture into broader service offerings like social advertising and design, expand into adjacent markets like the legal and banking niches, and scale existing PPC accounts, they just needed the support of a new buyer’s fresh perspective, resources, and innovative solutions to get them there.

A Large or Mid-Sized Agency Buyer

Ken had poured the last twelve years of his life into making Eight Oh Two the best it could be. The last thing he wanted was to sell the agency to a buyer who would ruin what he had built and let it all fall apart. He wanted to find a large or mid-sized agency with broader service offerings that would be able to capitalize on organic growth and cross-sell opportunities. An established agency with mature systems could quickly and easily integrate Eight Oh Two’s team and clients into their own methodology.

Doing Things Differently At Barney 

At Barney, we do things differently. That’s why we started our business, after all – because selling agencies the old-school way was an absolutely miserable task (that usually ended after months of negotiation, thousands in legal fees, and no deal). Since 2015, we’ve guided over 150 media, marketing and tech companies through simple, painless acquisitions and we were excited to add Eight Oh Two to the list.

Our mission set, we hunkered down to find them the perfect buyer to fit their culture, support their team, and help them grow at scale. We weren’t just looking for a financial fit, but a strategic and cultural one, too (because that’s how you set up an agency to thrive for years to come).

We started by getting to know everything there was to know about Eight Oh Two – their team, their numbers, their clients, and more. With our expertise in the agency market, we calculated a maximum valuation for the agency and put together amazing marketing materials to show potential buyers what was so special about Eight Oh Two. Then, we tapped into our huge network of highly qualified potential buyers and quickly narrowed it down to the perfect buyer: The Brandon Agency.

A Digital-Centric, Integrated Marketing Agency

A growth agency founded in 1959, The Brandon Agency is a digital-centric, integrated marketing agency focused on developing and executing revolutionary business-building ideas to help their clients grow. They’re obsessed with ROI, KPIs, and using data to get their clients the results they need. With over a hundred employees and offices across the southern East Coast, The Brandon Agency had the resources and expertise Eight Oh Two needed to capitalize on organic growth and cross-sell opportunities.

The Brandon Agency was looking for an opportunity to add depth and breadth to their digital marketing team, and they found that in Eight Oh Two. Eight Oh Two’s data-driven approach, work ethic, and client roster made them a perfect fit to continue The Brandon Agency’s ability to develop and execute business-building ideas to help their clients grow. And as part of the larger team, Eight Oh Two had the partner they needed to help them continue to grow.

A Culture Match and a Strategic Fit 

The Brandon Agency and Eight Oh Two were truly a perfect fit. The Brandon Agency was a great culture match and Eight Oh Two was a strategic fit with their ability to enhance e-commerce offerings for retailers for The Brandon Agency. In just two months, everyone walked away with exactly what they wanted – and Ken got the exit he deserved for building his game-changing, industry-disrupting agency.

That’s what we do at Barney: help passionate, trailblazing founders like Ken get the exits they deserve so they can move on to their next great idea or exponential growth through strategic acquisition (with cash in the bank to seed it).