Senior living marketing firm Attane is laying off its employees as it unwinds operations in the coming week.
The Kansas City-based company has about 100 employees, some of whom took to LinkedIn Monday to announce the sudden closure. The company’s closure is related to the senior living industry’s slow rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to current trends in sales and marketing.
Attane had evolved its scope beyond that of a traditional marketing agency in the last three years, with a stronger focus on data-driven, technology solutions and marketing automation, according to Attane Vice President of Communications Steve Wujek.
But “the adoption of that approach and the understanding of how it can benefit the sales/marketing process has been slower than expected,” Wujek told Senior Housing News.
In 2018, CIP Capital invested in the firm with plans to help accelerate its ability to collect and analyze data and expand its digital marketing capabilities. GlynnDevins rebranded as Attane in 2021 after successfully acquiring two other marketing tech firms, Linkmedia 360 and Bluespire.
Attane’s revenue had been declining since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Kansas City Business Journal. In 2020, the company reportedly logged revenue of about $101 million, but by 2022 that total had fallen just below $50 million.
The shuttering of Attane also came after CIP was unable to find a buyer for the senior living marketing services company, the Business Journal reported. The bank holding CIP’s debt reportedly began seizing cash and assets as a result.
Attane, originally called GlynnDevins, was founded in 1987 as a marketing agency. Its clients in senior living have in the past included LCS and Oakmont Senior Living.
Over the years, the company assembled a team that included marketing professionals from a variety of domains, including client service, tech engineers, data scientists, digital marketing, creative and design, communications and social media.
“That collective knowledge and experience was important for us to maintain a leading position and help the industry be more progressive with their marketing and sales approaches,” Wujek said.
Wujek said he and the rest of the company are most proud of having helped expose the industry to new, “more sophisticated” methods of generating and nurturing leads.
“We were the leader, the innovator, for senior living marketing,” he added.
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