Wildland, a Richland software development company, recently acquired BrandCraft Media — a move that will merge Wildland’s software development capabilities with BrandCraft Media’s creative and marketing expertise.

The move makes Kennewick’s BrandCraft Media a subsidiary of Wildland. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

The acquisition gives BrandCraft access to Wildland’s growing pool of technical and creative talent, said Torey Azure, BrandCraft’s founder and director of marketing.

“We were doing well. We had some growth going but we were trying to get over the struggle of finding the right people at the right time,” Azure said. “The challenge in a service-based industry is finding the capital to grow, the ease of merging with a company that shares your same values is that barriers to growth are reduced, the team can help execute projects, the overhead is reduced, including things like accounting, rent, because now it’s spread across a 16-person team.”

“We have high respect for what Torey has done with BrandCraft Media, the brand he has created, and quality of product he has put out, and just Torey as a person,” said Ty Mulholland, president of Wildland.

Last year both companies began partnering to launch a third company, Azentix, focused on search engine optimization, or SEO, services. But as both companies worked together, it became obvious how a possible acquisition could benefit both.

“It was a good opportunity for BrandCraft. We could have these employees as well, that’s initially why it started, it also became clear as far as company culture, it was a good fit,” Azure said.

Mulholland said the acquisition will allow Wildland to focus on custom integrated software development projects and better position BrandCraft Media to handle more complex planning, digital media buying, SEO, social media ads and software development, in addition to existing services in graphic design, web design, marketing, video production, web hosting and printing.

“We were so busy on the creative side but we needed a leader to maintain and grow that, so it was a perfect fit,” Mulholland said.

Both companies are experiencing growth and recruiting for several positions they hope to fill in the next 60 days.

But growth hasn’t come without challenges.

“The challenge was less about work and more about coming in and culturally trying to fit in and figure out workflows and processes and how everyone communicates internally. It’s much different than what I am used to,” Azure said. “In the beginning, there was a bit of slight panic, thinking if this was the right move, but 30 days in, I’ve gotten good feedback from the questions I had, and ever since it’s been smooth sailing. It’s been even better than what I imagined.”