SAN FRANCISCO — Next 15 has purchased the tech boutique Nectar Communications, making the firm a subset of Outcast.  

The deal, which closed in November, comes as Next 15 continues to restructure the agencies within its portfolio. Plans include retaining the Nectar brand with founders Tracy Sjogreen and Rachel Petersen at the helm, reporting to Next 15 CEO Tim Dyson. Last year, the holding group unveiled Archetype as the combined entity for merged agencies Bite and Text 100.

Also last year, Nectar expanded to Austin while also maintaining its offices in San Francisco, New York and Seattle. The 38-person boutique launched a content practice and digital services, for a client base that includes Google, Levi's, Stripe, Menlo Ventures, Plaid. Nectar also formerly worked with Salesforce but lost that business in 2017. 

"We have big plans for 2020 and beyond and wanted the independence and flexibility to make them happen," Sjogreen said. "Next 15 was an easy and obvious choice for us. We’ve known the team there for a long time. We have endless respect for Tim Dyson and he’s been a mentor to us for many years. We share similar views of where marketing and comms are headed." 

She added that Nectar and Outcast will operate as "separate businesses making independent decisions."

In a statement, Next 15 CEO Tim Dyson said:  “Next 15 has been very focused on data and technology in the last few years but at our core we remain hugely invested in strategic communications. We’ve long admired Nectar and believe we have similar visions of where marketing is heading. Collectively we can help each other get there faster, which will be great for our customers and for the careers of the people in the business."