The Matters. Group officially launched operations on June 1, 2009, in Seattle, Washington as Confluence Digital. Eric Layland founded the company based on his strong belief that multiple streams of data, unified into a confluence of actionable insights for lead generation, research, and digital marketing are infinitely more valuable than siloed operations and tactics and that effective, strategic integration across all marketing channels will deliver greater returns on investment than skin deep ad hoc solutions.

In early 2014 Confluence, Digital joined forces with Uppercut Advertising to create Confluence Marketing. The branding, research, creative and media capabilities of Uppercut have proven an ideal complement to the digital focus of Confluence Digital ever since.

Also in 2014, Confluence created a second branded agency, Canna Ventures, to serve the needs of the newly legal and emerging cannabis industry.  Canna Ventures produced the first nationwide attitudinal research on cannabis at the time. The resulting market segmentations have guided program management for many new cannabis companies. These research efforts were updated in 2016 and 2019. 

In 2020 Confluence and Canna Ventures were unified under a single brand - The Matters Group to better serve both our mainstream and alternative market client needs.