founded 2001 headquarters san francisco number of locations 10 1 key people jim weiss chairman & ceo bob pearson president 1 revenue 95 million 2015 2 number of employees 427 2016 3 website official website w2o group is a holding company based in san francisco california usa that operates three marketing and communications firms wcg twist mktg and brewlife . w2o started as a one person firm in 2001 . it was called weisscomm partners and founded by jim weiss . the firm was restructured and renamed wcg in 2009 . in 2012 wcg became a company of the w2o holding group . contents 1 corporate history 1.1 acquisitions 2 operations and services 3 references 4 external links corporate history edit w2o group was founded as weisscomm partners in 2001 by jim weiss as a one person marketing consulting firm with clients primarily in the healthcare industry . 4 5 his firm grew quickly until 2008 . according to weiss less favorable conditions in the healthcare industry led to a series of layoffs . 4 in response the following year weiss acquired creative services firm oda and social media marketing firm common sense media group in order to diversify his interests and reduce reliance on the healthcare industry . 4 5 that same year weiss re formed the company under the acronym wcg consolidating the two acquisitions under a new corporate umbrella . 6 7 the acquired companies and the firm s revenues continued growing . 4 5 by 2011 it had annual revenues of 48 million . 5 in 2012 wcg was re structured again under a new holding company called w2o group which was made up of three companies wcg w2o ventures and twist mktg . 7 8 the fourth company in the holding group brewlife was formed the following year to focus on startup companies . 9 the holding group had 75 million in annual revenues by 2013 10 and 82.6 million in 2014 . 1 in 2014 and 2015 w2o opened new offices in chicago silicon valley seattle san diego boston and switzerland . 1 11 12 acquisitions edit date company description references 2009 oda creative services 4 2009 common sense media group social media marketing firm 4 2012 ravel data analytics ; based in austin 5 2012 vm foundry web and mobile development ; based in austin 13 2015 arc2 communications & media boutique public relations firm ; based in los angeles 1 2015 vintank social media and crm software company 14 operations and services edit w2o group is a holding company that provides services like public relations social media marketing analytics app development and recruitment for clinical trials primarily to the healthcare consumer and technology segments . 5 the holding company operates through three subsidiaries wcg twist mktg and brewlife . 5 15 wcg is the public relations arm . as of 2012 it was responsible for about 80 percent of the company s revenue . 6 twist is a 50 person division that initially served largely as a conflict and analytics division serving pfizer and galderma out of new york city . 5 7 the brewlife division serves the company s startup and emerging technology clientele . 9 w2o group is the fourth largest pr firm by revenue in o dwyer s annual rankings of u.s. agencies . 11 more than 90 percent of its revenues are from u.s. based clients . 1 it s also ranked as the 8th largest pr firm in the technology segment 9th in entertainment 13th in food and beverage and 2nd in healthcare . 11 healthcare tends to be its fastest growing practice area 1 and was the firm s focus early on though more recently the analytics practice has taken a larger role . 12 according to pr week w2o s most used services include pr analytics and its ccx creative unit . 1 it also started a multicultural practice in early 2015 . 1 the majority of w2o s clients are biotech and medical device companies such as medtronic and acclarent . 5 much of its new business in 2015 was related to treatments for rare diseases and cardiovascular problems . 16 one of w2o s software services is mdigitallife which stores data on the online activity of doctors and patients . it is used by pharmaceutical companies to understand sentiment in the healthcare field . 12 references edit a b c d e f g h i w2o group agency business report 2015 . us home . april 27 2015 . retrieved december 23 2015 . top pr firm rankings . o dwyer s. retrieved april 15 2016 . knutsen rebecca mayer july 5 2016 . w2o group . mm & m. retrieved august 17 2016 . a b c d e f agency profiles wcg . pr week . may 14 2010 . p. 52 . a b c d e f g h i chase james july 2012 . w2o group starting small this shop found big growth via speed and flexibility . medical marketing and media . a b arnold matthew april 2012 . new companies expand wcg s reach . medical marketing and media . a b c dickson virgil march 8 2012 . wcg restructures creates w2o group parent company two sister firms . pr week . retrieved december 23 2015 . wcg creates new parent company network of firms . adweek breaking news in advertising media and technology . march 8 2012 . retrieved december 23 2015 . a b coffee patrick january 7 2013 . w2o launches new brewlife agency . w2o launches new brewlife agency . retrieved december 23 2015 . lewis tanya july 2014 . w2o group . medical marketing and media . a b c o dwyer s annual pr rankings issue pdf . o dwyer s. may 2014 . retrieved december 23 2015 . a b c deri . chris april 10 2015 . w2o group revenues up 10 % to 82.6 million in 2014 . the holmes report . retrieved december 23 2015 . w2o buys austin based digital agency vm foundry . pr week . december 12 2012 . w2o buys geo fencing platform vintank . the holmes report . march 31 2015 . retrieved december 23 2015 . wang carolyn . companies . w2o group . retrieved december 23 2015 . weinstein deborah july 2 2015 . top 100 agencies 2015 w2o group . mmm . retrieved december 23 2015 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title w2o group & oldid 744433283 categories public relations companiescompanies based in san francisco2001 establishments in californiahidden categories good articlesofficial website different in wikidata and wikipedia navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 october 2016 at 05 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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