Counselor Top 40 distributor BDA (asi/137616) has acquired New York City-based distributor Harper + Scott (asi/220052), a Counselor Best Place to Work with a high-profile client roster that includes Sephora, Delta Air Lines, Figma, Chick-fil-a and others. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Harper + Scott will retain its name moving forward, operating as a sub-brand under the BDA umbrella. Co-founders Michael Scott Cohen and Jon Alagem – both members of Counselor’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in promo and Counselor’s 2023 Distributor Entrepreneurs of the Year – will be taking on a larger leadership role at BDA while maintaining oversight of the company they started. 

“Harper + Scott has long been recognized as a best-in-class distributor and a creative powerhouse in our industry,” said Jay Deutsch, CEO and co-founder of BDA and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list. “Their spirit of innovative and design expertise, combined with BDA’s global enterprise agency capabilities, create a powerful synergy that will deliver immense value to our clients. Over the past year, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the H+S team – they’re wildly talented, and their approach to business aligns seamlessly with ours.”

“BDA has huge plans that align with our missions at Harper + Scott,” added Cohen. “I know I’ve said this for the last 11 years that we’ve barely scratched the surface, but truly we have barely scratched the surface.”

Michael Scott Cohen and Jon Alagem of Harper + Scott (asi/220052) and Jay Deutsch of BDA (asi/137616)

Cohen and Alagem – the Counselor 2023 Distributor Entrepreneurs of the Year – have made a name for themselves as providers of creative custom projects since founding Harper + Scott in 2014. This year alone, the distributorship has produced campaigns as wide-ranging as a set of “pool noodle” floaties for Olive Garden that sold out within minutes; detailed employee kits, patches and trader jackets for design platform Figma ahead of the firm going public; and custom Nike Air Force 1s for Delta’s 100th anniversary.

For BDA, the acquisition of Harper + Scott will expand the Counselor Top 40 firm’s agency presence in New York City, as well as its ability to deliver custom programs, including social merchandise drop campaigns.

“Our focus has always been on creativity, designing the kind of high-profile campaigns that make people stop and pay attention,” Cohen said. “We have always admired BDA’s work, and now joining their team to work side by side truly excites us. BDA gives us the tech, global resources and access to the largest and best distributor network to take our creativity and customer campaigns to an entirely new level.”

“Joining BDA amplifies our mission of servicing clients with speed, transparency and exceptional customer experiences throughout the entire product life cycle,” said Alagem, Harper + Scott president and co-founder. “BDA’s global procurement and logistics network will supercharge our ability to deliver hyper-creative and sustainable branded merchandise on time and under budget. We are really excited to go to market together.”

Harper + Scott is among multiple acquisitions that Woodinville, WA-headquartered BDA has made in recent years. Since 2023, the distributor has acquired both domestic and international firms to expand its global footprint – ipm | gruppe, a German promo distributor, in June 2023; The Great Branding Company, a U.K.-headquartered provider of sports merchandise, in June 2024; and SwagUp, a New Jersey-based distributorship with a unique tech platform, in December 2024.

Based on reported 2024 North American promotional products revenue of $470.3 million, BDA – also known as Bensussen Deutsch & Associates – ranked sixth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. The company has been in business for more than 40 years, providing marketing, merch and e-commerce solutions to clients in sports, entertainment and elsewhere in the Fortune 1000.