IRVINE, CA — Australian communications group Bastion Collective has launched an aggressive plan to expand its US presence, starting with the acquisition of three agencies and the opening of a Southern California office.

Bastion’s acquisitions are all based in Southern California. They comprise LFPR, a PR and social media agency that has been rebranded as Bastion Elevate. The others are digital marketing firm Rare Branding and Digital Brand Group, a web and mobile app developer, which have been merged into one new company, Bastion Rare.

Headquartered in Australia, where it claims to be the largest privately-held marcomms group, Bastion Collective already counts a US presence through its 2017 acquisition of SEO firm TLG. 

Dax Cornelius, a former US Air Force fighter pilot turned businessman, will lead the US operation as CEO. He joined Bastion in 2016 after serving as Torrid Technologies Group CEO and a Mission Arms Group senior VP.

Bastion is banking on growing its footprint through future acquisitions funded by roughly 20% of its projected $55m annual revenue. The ambitious plan calls for doubling the size and revenue of those agencies, reflecting Bastion’s overall model, which focuses on building a collective of agencies with distinctive offerings, versus overlapping capabilities. 

“Our industry is seeing massive disruption across the major communications conglomerates because the way people consume data has drastically changed over the past decade,” said Cornelius.

“Smaller, more nimble and innovative agencies are already pivoting in the industry as they understand two things: clients have become equally cost, revenue and value driven; and relevant communications agencies understand the way people consume content. Relying on a big name, throwing money at campaigns and old marketing service solutions don’t move the needle anymore,” he said.

Bastion's model also provides equity ownership for all of the heads of the respective agencies within the group. "By our CEO’s having skin in the game and being allowed to run their respective business, the agencies within the collective are able to maintain a mentality of service-before-self, clients before margin and plug into the success of other agencies within Bastion Collective in the US and across the globe," said Fergus Watts, founder and executive chairman of Bastion Collective.