kyu  - headquartered in New York -  is the strategic operating unit of Hakuhodo DY Holdings – one of the oldest and most respected advertising agencies in Japan. It was created in 2014 to invest in all forms of creativity, innovation, and international growth. Lexington is the newest member of the Collective and the first acquisition in the strategic communications sector. kyu has acquired 100% of the equity of Lexington.

I founded Lexington almost 25 years ago. I am immensely proud of the company – now 90-strong - its people and the fantastic work we do for clients.  We advise some of the world’s biggest brands on communications, campaigns, politics, brand and marketing.

We have had a very successful few years and the company has almost doubled in size in the last three.  However, to build on that success and take Lexington forward for the next 25 years, necessitates some strategic changes which will allow us to continue our growth and broaden and deepen our service offer to clients. kyu is the integral key to that future.

We want to do more with data and digital. We want to work more globally. We want to bring in behavioural science understanding, particularly to our work in healthcare. In each of these areas, there are kyu Collective companies that are already doing great things.

We wanted to choose a strategic partner which would allow us to remain independent in terms of management and leadership, retain our Lexington brand, provide strategic and investment support for expansion and which would add value to our current offer. We also wanted a partner who would enhance the opportunities for our team to develop their own skills working with companies providing complementary services to Lexington.  

kyu provides precisely these things. kyu’s stated mission is to be a source of creativity that propels the economy and society forward and that chimes very closely with our own mission to Shape Tomorrow for organisations and society. In kyu’s network they have really exciting companies like Ideo, a US global design company that developed the first usable mouse for Apple, or the Canadian creative and storytelling agency Sid Lee, or Gehl, the Danish global leader in urban design and I really believe that we can do some great things by collaborating with these companies.

There will be few noticeable changes. We remain Lexington. We manage our affairs on a day-to-day basis very much as before. However, I am delighted to announce that Emily Cook will become chief executive of Lexington with immediate effect. Appointing a CEO reflects the growth of the company and the need to a clear management and leadership structure. Emily and I will continue to work very closely with Lexington’s senior team over the coming years to oversee our next period of exciting growth and evolution.

The Lexington leadership will be supported by Michael Birkin who leads kyu as their CEO. Michael is someone I have known for nearly 30 years. He is one of the most effective business leaders in our consultancy world. His colleague, Farah Golant, who is kyu’s President and who will join the Lexington board, is also a renowned leader in our industry and will be a great source of support and advice.

I have no doubt that Lexington will continue to flourish with our new partners.

Mike