Javelin has announced a management buy-out (MBO) with senior members of the business acquiring ownership of the full-service agency. Founder and main shareholder Joe Dobbin will step into a non-executive chair role. Founded by Dobbin and the late Conor Kennedy above a sweet shop in 1986, Javelin provides creative, media, and digital services.
The agency claims a turnover of €20 million. The MBO shareholders include Adrian Cosgrove, Aoife Hofler, Ken Ivory, Cathal O’Flaherty, Yusuf Karimjee, Ian Nunoo, and Kyla O’Kelly, who becomes managing partner. With 55 employees, the agency’s client portfolio includes Toyota, An Post, AA Ireland, SSE Airtricity, Spry Finance, Jobs.ie and Keogh’s Crisps.
Javelin’s mantra is ‘Where Ideas Take Flight’
At last year’s Effie Awards Ireland, Javelin and media agency PHD picked up a gold for the Department of Justice and its ‘Serious Consequences’ ads, a campaign which overachieved on its prime objective. It raised awareness that sharing or threatening to share intimate images without consent was illegal and carried penalties of up to seven years in jail.
In a joint statement on the MBO, the shareholders said: “We’ll be focused on continued growth through work that influences attitudes and actions, an expanded social content and media offering and ongoing investment in growth areas.” Dobbin said: “I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve built, and I’m truly excited about what’s yet to come.”
