Focus Media acquires Rockland PR firm

Josh Sommers, the founder of Focus Media Inc., has acquired Madden Communications and Marketing. The terms were not disclosed.

The Goshen-based advertising and public relations firm, which has a strong client base in Sullivan and Orange counties, will now have a presence in Rockland County with the acquisition of the Chestnut Ridge business.

Sommers said that he intends to expand into Westchester County and have an office in White Plains within the next six months, adding to the existing offices in Goshen, Monticello and Chestnut Ridge.

 

“The environment is prime for an agency to shake up the Westchester market,” Sommers said. “We”™re going to make a major push in Westchester.”

Bill Madden, the president of Madden Communications, will serve as executive vice president of Focus Media. The addition of his three employees will bring Focus Media up to 14 staffers.

The two met several years ago while working on a statewide referendum on behalf of two unions. Following that initial meeting, the two hired each other when needed and collaborated on a few occasions.

Sommers said the he and Madden became close allies and began talking about a merger.

Madden said the timing was right.

“Together we can serve more clients and grow much faster,” he said.

Focus Media specializes in branding, advertising, public relations, media planning, special events, direct mail, graphic design and website development.

Focus Media will now have 41 clients, including the recent addition of Orange Regional Medical Center.

Sommers, who began his business eight years ago, is the chairman of the board of trustees of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development, vice president of development for the board of the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan Counties and is past president of the Monticello Rotary Club.

Madden, who began his company in 2002, is the former managing editor of The Journal News in White Plains. He is the chairman of the President”™s Advisory Counsel at St. Thomas Aquinas College and is a board member of the Rockland Business Association, United Way of Rockland and the Rockland chapter of the Salvation Army.