NRTC, a membership cooperative of rural electric and telecom providers, has acquired Pivot Group, a marketing and customer experience (CX) agency that serves rural broadband providers.
NRTC traditionally has focused on technology, helping members plan, deploy and manage technology investments. Pivot’s in-house capabilities include market research, branding, web development, marketing strategy, creative services/advertising, digital/social marketing, CX consulting and employee development/training.
As NRTC CEO Tim Bryan explained in an email to employees, “One of NRTC’s strategic goals is to bring more capabilities and experience in-house so we can better serve our members. Our board and members have told us that marketing support is critical to their success. We’re thrilled to welcome Pivot Group, and we know our broadband members will greatly benefit from the solutions they offer.”
Founded in 1986, NRTC today serves more than 1,500 rural utilities and affiliates in 48 states. Many Pivot clients are NRTC members. Pivot said it will continue to serve all its clients with the same dedicated employee teams.
“Our passion has always been serving our clients and helping them be successful,” said Dave Nieuwstraten, Pivot Group CEO. “We’ve known and worked with NRTC for a long time. When we realized how much our values align and began thinking about what more we could do together, combining our organizations is too exciting an opportunity to pass up.”
Telecompetitor is published by Pivot Group and will continue to cover broadband news with an emphasis on rural broadband as it has done for almost 17 years.
Updated to clarify that the combination of NRTC and Pivot Group took the form of NRTC acquiring Pivot Group