After 30 years at the helm of production agency Bureau Betak, Alexandre de Betak is becoming chair of creative strategy at parent company The Independents, which acquired Bureau Betak in 2021 and also owns Karla Otto, Lefty and Prodject.
The move comes as The Independents works to double the size of the group to reach $700 million in annual revenues by 2025. The company raised $400 million from investment firm TowerBrook Capital Partners and content production and sports betting company FL Entertainment earlier this month to fuel growth and finance further acquisitions.
“Fashion shows and events are becoming more important than ever, but they’re part of a wider shift in the way fashion and luxury brands communicate,” De Betak told BoF. “What this step up will allow me to do is really dedicate myself to thinking about the future, to working on the strategy of how to creatively reinvent what the future of fashion communications can be.”
In his new role, De Betak will set strategy, help to attract top talent and identify new acquisition targets. Under De Betak’s direction, the group will also invest in an incubator programme to nurture small but high-potential creative companies with which the Independents can partner.
De Betak has already begun identifying “complementary creative talents” from adjacent industries where collaboration may spearhead new ways of working, he said.
De Betak will step away from day-to-day operations at Bureau Betak. Benedicte Fournier, Paco Raynal and Guillaume Troncy — who have all held the title of co-chief executive officer since September 2021 — will continue to lead the business, alongside global head of design Simon Caillaud.
The Independents was founded in 2017 after a merger between fashion PR firm Karla Otto and experiential marketing and events agency K2. Since then, the group has acquired Qode, a Dubai-based luxury communications agency and Lefty, a Paris-based influencer marketing firm, as well as Bureau Betak. Most recently, the company acquired Prodject, the New York-based creative agency behind the Met Gala. More acquisitions are expected to be announced soon.
