MDC Partners Picks Up RJ Palmer RJ Palmer principals include Peter Knobloch, the chief executive, behind the desk; Pete Regan, left, the chief operating officer; and Jim Vail, the president. The firm is being acquired by the holding company MDC Partners. RJ PALMER, a leading independent media agency, is being acquired by MDC Partners in a deal that underscores the growing importance to marketers of media services in a digital age. RJ Palmer is based in New York and handles accounts with billings estimated at more than $800 million for brands like Ben & Jerry's, sold by Unilever; Build-A-Bear Workshop; the footwear retailer DSW; Dulcolax, Flomax, Spiriva and Zantac, from Boehringer Ingelheim; Keurig, sold by Green Mountain Coffee; Lunesta, from Sunovion; Perdue Farms; Sherwin-Williams; and Sports Illustrated, published by the Time Inc. division of Time Warner. The services provided to clients by RJ Palmer include media planning and buying as well as branded entertainment, which is focused on helping to incorporate brands into programming like television shows. The holding company MDC Partners owns all or part of 50 agencies like Anomaly, Concentric Pharma Advertising, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Laird & Partners, Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners, Sloane & Company and Vitro. MDC is acquiring 100 percent of RJ Palmer and a controlling stake in a unit of RJ Palmer, Trade X Media, that specializes in corporate bartering services. The deal, which is to be formally announced on Thursday, will cost MDC an estimated $25 million, including additional considerations based on future performance. RJ Palmer will operate as a stand-alone division of MDC; all of its senior managers and 70 employees are to continue with the agency. MDC Partners has been on a buying spree in recent years, seeking to accelerate growth through acquisitions to better compete against its far larger rivals like WPP, the Omnicom Group, the Interpublic Group of Companies, the Publicis Groupe, Dentsu and Havas. MDC made four deals in 2011, 13 in 2010 and two in 2009. MDC will be "more ambitious" in deal-making in 2012 than last year, said Miles S. Nadal, chairman and chief executive at MDC, which is based in New York, because he is "feeling better and better" about the economic climate, albeit "in a cautious way." "The American economy is growing, growing slowly," Mr. Nadal said. "I see this as an opportunity to bulk up, get more expertise" in areas like media services, analytics and digital advertising. The deal for RJ Palmer, also known as RJ Palmer Media Services, is the largest by MDC in the media realm. It is part of an effort by MDC to increase the amount of media billings under the aegis of its agencies, now at almost $1 billion, to $10 billion "in the next five to 10 years," Mr. Nadal said. "There is significant opportunity" in media services, Mr. Nadal said, as the business undergoes "a dramatic change" because consumers are so ardently embracing digital, social and mobile media. "As we service more Fortune 100 clients," he added, more comprehensive media offerings are needed. RJ Palmer was opened in 1979 by Robert J. Palmer, who died in 2009. He sold his interest in the agency in the 1990s but remained active until 2007. RJ Palmer is considered among the first independent media agencies in the United States along with shops like Independent Media Services, which was founded in 1966 by Richard Gershon, who died on Nov. 15. As "one of the few independent media operations left standing," said Peter Knobloch, chief executive at RJ Palmer, the agency's principals had been approached many times about a possible sale. This time, the answer was yes because of pledges from Mr. Nadal that MDC would "allow us to do what we've been doing," Mr. Knobloch said, and "keep our way of doing business." "We spent lots of time with Miles going over this," he added, and were assured that MDC would not be "enveloping us and sticking us in another group, or another area, with more of a "control" aspect." "MDC is looking to grow in the media area," Mr. Knobloch said, "and we hope we'll help them along those lines." The resources that MDC and its agencies can provide RJ Palmer "will help us grow" in specialties like social media, he added, where "I'd love to get my hands on more resources." The new digital ways to reach consumers are proliferating so rapidly, Mr. Knobloch joked, that "by the time we get off the phone, there'll be another." RJ Palmer has offices in Atlanta and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in addition to its headquarters in New York. The senior managers at RJ Palmer who will remain after the sale include, in addition to Mr. Knobloch, Jim Vail, president; Pete Regan, chief operating officer; Peter Stieglitz, chief financial officer; and Vince Laraia, president of Trade X Media. Last month, at a conference, Mr. Nadal discussed how he was becoming more bullish on the outlook for the advertising, marketing and media industries in 2012 than had previously been the case. Mr. Nadal said he believed that the strength of the balance sheets of most marketers meant they would maintain or increase ad spending. "I think you're going to see very good growth," he added. "Wall Street keeps saying, "This is 2008 all over again," and it's not." After the sale of RJ Palmer, the ranks of independent media agencies include Empower MediaMarketing , Horizon Media, Mediasmith and TargetCast TCM. "There's not that many left on the prairie," Mr. Knobloch said.