Devon agencies in merger

Two Devon agencies have merged to broaden the offer they provide to clients.

Lisa Singleton, the owner of Zebra Design, has joined Astley Media as creative director.

The two firms have been working closely for 18 months but will become one business on April 1.

Lisa has built up a large portfolio of clients since launching Zebra, based in Tedburn St Mary, five years ago.

They will join those currently being served by Astley Media, which include EDF Energy, Aviva Investors and the Mercure Exeter Southgate Hotel.

Started by former newspaper editor Marc Astley in January 2012, the Exeter company is now 12-strong.

It is also the only Devon business to have secured awards from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in 2013 and 2014.

Dan Pritchard, Astley Media managing director said: “Lisa is an incredible talent and will enable us to become a full service agency.

“We have years of expertise in PR and marketing but this was a missing piece of the jigsaw.”

Lisa added: “I am thrilled to be joining such a great bunch of talented people and I am looking forward to extending the range of services on offer

“The opportunity to merge both businesses and their clients came at a time of growth for us both and so was the perfect fit.”