Common Thread Collective, an e-commerce digital marketing agency, has gotten financial backing from private equity firm Acacia Group.
While the amount was not specified, the support comes at a critical time for e-commerce, where a crowded marketplace means every ad must count. CTC specializes in direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands.
“We help brands sell more stuff on the internet with digital ads,” said Common Thread CEO Taylor Holiday. “Or as my kids understand us … the people who interrupt their YouTube videos.”
CTC, as the company is often referred to, was launched in 2012 and is now a 70-person national e-commerce agency helping brands across the U.S. and globally aim for more growth.
The recently announced alliance brings together CTC’s creative and data-driven marketing engine with Acacia’s investment capital and deep expertise in scaling digital-first businesses. Acacia said it is providing “investment capital” but did not specify the amount in what it called a “strategic partnership” with CTC.
$100M, Scaling Profit
CTC combines proprietary data tools, financial planning, creative strategy, and performance marketing to empower e-commerce brands generating $10 million to $100 million in revenue to boost their profit.
CTC says it bridges the gap between marketing and finance, empowering brand leaders with the necessary tools, strategy and execution to drive more profit.
The Costa Mesa-based company also isn’t specifying the total amount of money it’s raised so far.
“We have been bootstrapped up until this point,” Holiday told the Business Journal on July 30.
He called CTC the “the go-to agency for profit-oriented consumer brands.”
Fulton, Maryland-based Acacia Group is known for backing what it calls “digital-first companies.”
Fast-Growing E-Commerce
“The partnership positions Common Thread Collective to accelerate product innovation, expand its leadership team, and extend its model to even more fast-growing e-commerce brands,” Acacia said late last month.
“In a time when every marketing dollar needs to work harder, CTC has built a smart, disciplined model for tying marketing to measurable financial results,” said Frederic Cassis, managing partner at the Acacia Group.
He added: “We believe CTC has all the ingredients for rapid expansion—a brilliant leadership team, proprietary tools and an unwavering focus on customer success. With our support, they’ll accelerate growth through product innovation, talent development and targeted acquisitions, keeping customer impact front and center.”
Meta, Google
Holiday, the CTC chief, also addressed the bigger picture of where companies should spend their ad dollars, noting in particular Facebook parent Meta and Google.
“Meta is still the dominant ad platform representing 60-plus% share of wallet for brands,” Holiday said. “Counterintuitively, Google Search revenue has been increasing in the face of AI. They are as positioned as anyone to lead the way in the coming future.”
