Bully Pulpit buys 365 Sherpas, makes Germany its third-largest market
What's the deal? Bully Pulpit InternationalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (BPI), the Washington, DC-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, is acquiring Berlin-based corporate affairs consultancy 365 SherpasDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The deal makes Germany BPI's third-largest market worldwide.
BPI is buying the stake in 365 Sherpas from the Hirschen Group and the consultancy's three managing partners: Cornelius Winter, Jan Böttger, and Daniel Wixforth. The three will become BPI shareholders in return.
The combined Berlin and Brussels teams of 365 Sherpas and Boldt BPI total nearly 100 consultants. In Germany, they will operate under the 365 Sherpas BPI brand; in Brussels, under Boldt BPI.
The leadership team stays on board. Winter becomes executive chairman, Böttger takes the chief executive officer role, and Wixforth becomes chief growth officer. All three join BPI's European leadership team, with Winter also sitting on the global executive leadership team. The Hirschen Group, meanwhile, becomes BPI's exclusive creative partner in continental Europe.
Why now? BPI has been on an aggressive European expansion run. In 2024, it acquired Boldt — with offices in Brussels, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, and the UK — along with British firms Seven Hills and Message House. The 365 Sherpas acquisition deepens that footprint in Germany, Europe's largest economy, at a time when demand for cross-border public affairs advice is growing. 365 Sherpas was named Germany's communications consultancy of the year at the 2025 PR Report Awards, making it a high-profile target.
What could go wrong? Integrating a Berlin-rooted boutique into a 300-plus-person US-headquartered operation is never simple. Cultural mismatches between American and German advisory styles could create friction, and key client relationships often depend on the personal trust built by founders — who now answer to a larger organisation.
There is also the risk that folding a nimble firm into a global network dilutes the brand identity that won 365 Sherpas its reputation in the first place.
The signal: BPI's acquisition spree — Boldt, Seven Hills, Message House, and now 365 Sherpas — mirrors a broader consolidation pattern in strategic communications as clients demand seamless cross-border advisory amid rising regulatory complexity on both sides of the Atlantic. That BPI, still at "breakout" stage according to Dealroom, is absorbing an "early growth" firm named Germany's communications consultancy of the year suggests speed-to-market through M&A is winning out over organic buildout, a playbook long familiar from the advertising and management consulting sectors.
Read more: prreport.de
