Impact XM Acquires London Firm Shelton Fleming, Expanding Immersive Storytelling Capabilities

Impact XM's back-to-back UK expansion strategy came into full view with the August 19, 2025 announcement that the Dayton, New Jersey-based experiential marketing agency had acquired Shelton Fleming, a London boutique known for immersive storytelling and XR activations. The deal was the agency's second UK acquisition in five months, following the March 4, 2025 purchase of Touch Associates, a B2B brand experience agency.

For Shelton Fleming founding principal and managing director Maurice Fleming, the logic was brutally practical. "There comes a point where briefs with $10, $20, $30 million budgets emerge and you simply haven't the scale and reach," Fleming said. "That's when we decided we had to find the right strategic partner and home for the agency." Fleming founded the London firm in 2002; it later became part of the AKA Group of agencies before this transaction. He is now retiring after 45 years in the industry.

The acquisition gives Impact XM, which operates with more than 500 employees across North America and Europe, a London presence built around capabilities at the leading edge of the discipline: extended reality activations, motion graphics, interactive tools, digital content design, and strategic brand experience programming. Shelton Fleming's office at Shand House, 14-20 Shand Street in London SE1 was already rebranding to Impact XM across its digital platforms following the deal's close.

Impact XM CEO Jared Pollacco, who has been with the company for more than 21 years and has held the top role since February 2022, framed the acquisition as infrastructure for global scale. "This acquisition strengthens our ability to support clients across key markets with the strategic foundation, creativity, consistency, and scale required to deliver exceptional brand experiences," Pollacco said.

The early returns suggest the combined entity is already unlocking doors the boutique alone could not reach. Fleming noted that only weeks into the new setup, clients were bringing briefs in geographies where Shelton Fleming "would have previously probably not been invited to review RFPs," with U.S. events including CES and partner conferences in professional services and private equity coming into play. "Doors in America are being opened," he said.

The deal landed against a backdrop of accelerating market growth. The immersive marketing subsegment, the specific territory where Shelton Fleming built its reputation, was valued at $1.897 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $9.29 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of approximately 31.4%. The broader experiential marketing market sits between $53.83 billion and $59.23 billion globally in 2025, with brands using experiential channels now capturing approximately 38% of the marketing services industry's share, edging out digital advertising at 35%. North America accounts for roughly 40% of that global market; Europe holds around 30%, underscoring why Impact XM's two-deal UK push carries strategic weight.

Fleming saw the consolidation as a signal about the sector itself. "I believe it demonstrates the experiential disciplines, live events and brand activations, are gaining maturity and greater status in the marketing mix," he said. "When clients start to view experiential media and engagements as a powerful strategic lever that needs to be joined up, consistent and relevant across geographies and customer cohorts, you sense the sector is coming-of-age."

As for Fleming personally, the retirement comes with plans for a sharp gear shift: he intends to "take the foot off the pedal and focus on other interests, British heritage bikes being one of them." Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.