Eri Design Inc. of Worcester and DerSimonian LLC of Portland, Maine, marketing firms with extensive experience in higher education, have merged to form a new company called ERI.
“This merger represents a formalization of something that we’ve known since we started working together more than a decade ago: our combined team with deep expertise in .edu and .org brand strategy, marketing, and web technology sets us apart from other agencies and enables us to deliver even more powerful results for our clients” Raffi DerSimonian, vice president and chief strategy officer, said in the merger announcement Tuesday.
Erjon Metohu founded Eri Design in 2005 while studying graphic design at the now closed Becker College in Worcester. The digital marketing and design firm built a client list including Clark University, Worcester State University, UMass Chan Medical School, and the nonprofit Seven Hills Foundation. Metohu will be president of the new firm.
DerSimonian, a Clark University alum, brings experience in marketing communications and institutional advancement. His consulting practice has built brand identities and supported enrollment and philanthropic goals for colleges, universities, public school systems, healthcare institutions, and nonprofit organizations.
The two first met in 2010-11 while DerSimonian was serving as director of communications at Becker College. Metohu was on the faculty at Becker teaching web design and was a vendor for the college. The two partnered to redesign the Becker website and won several industry awards, DerSimonian said in an email to WBJ.
