A handful of ad agencies had made offers to buy Minneapolis-based creative agency Morsekode over the years, but CEO Mark Morse says it was a LinkedIn connection with a London-based exec that finally sealed the deal.

On Wednesday, United Kingdom-based marketing firm Gravity Global announced that it acquired Morsekode for an undisclosed sum. Morse described the deal as “additive,” noting that none of his 35 staffers will lose their jobs.

“I had been approached a handful of times by other firms, but none of them matched the three requirements that were most important to me,” Morse said in a Thursday phone interview. One of those requirements? No layoffs. Morse also wanted a buyer that was a good cultural fit that would enable his own firm to expand.

Morse says he first connected with Gravity Global CEO Mark Lethbridge on LinkedIn after the London firm received an “agency of the year” award through global Drum Awards program in 2021. “We set up a Zoom conference and absolutely hit it off,” Morse said. “It felt like he was a kindred spirit 4,000 miles away.”

At the time, Gravity didn’t have a presence in the United States. Morse saw an opportunity to pitch his firm as a foothold into the American market.

Founded in 2002, Morsekode has landed a number of high-profile Minnesota clients over the years, including 3M, UnitedHealth Group, and Ecolab. Though the Morsekode name will eventually go away, Morse anticipates hanging on to the firm’s existing clients. “It’s business as usual for us, but with a much deeper and wider reach,” he said. “We will continue to work with our existing client base.”

Morse said his firm has differentiated itself from competitors by offering a mix of video and multimedia content for clients. The company operates its own in-house production studio. That’s enabled Morsekode to develop everything from 3D animations to personalized digital videos. “If it wiggles on a screen, we can create it,” Morse said.

Gravity Global’s push into the U.S. market isn’t stopping with Morsekode. In its Wednesday announcement, the company noted that it’s also acquiring Houston-based B2B creative agency 9th Wonder. The London agency, which is backed by private equity firm Elysian Capital, says it has two other U.S. acquisitions in the works. Morse anticipates the deals will allow his own staffers to grow their skillset and expand their work geographically.

“We’ve done global campaigns for our clients before, but it’s kind of a mad dash for our team to manage that, Now, we have partners on our global team to help us execute campaigns in [Asia Pacific] or Europe,” Morse said.