The Blue Banana name will be kept and the agency’s staff will work alongside McCann Manchester’s planning team. The ad agency, which is part of the McCann Erickson group, will also install a new focus group facility at its Manchester headquarters.

McCann said that the acquisition would be used as a base to build a new NPD and innovation service for new and existing clients, as well as providing current customers with more consumer insight-related services.

Sue Little (pictured), McCann Manchester’s CEO, said: “Consumer insight is central to everything we are developing for clients and the knowledge and expertise this deal brings will really help us to stand out in the marketplace. Importantly it also provides a platform for us to really build insights into consumer behaviour online and this will be pivotal to our future digital growth plans.”

Blue Banana founder and managing director Jamie Peate added: “This is a great fit and will allow us to develop our offering to a broader spectrum of clients and importantly create new services especially in the digital space. Blue Banana has built a strong reputation for itself and it is testimony to all of my colleagues that an agency the size and scale of McCann has recognised what we have achieved.”