Alchemist Marketing acquires brand Triton Communications

MUMBAI: When Ali Merchant turned 80, he didn’t blow out candles on a cake—he handed over the keys to a kingdom. Triton Communications, the agency he co-founded in 1991 with Munawar Syed, has been acquired by Alchemist Marketing Solutions, India’s real-estate marketing heavyweight. The deal isn’t just a transaction; it’s a resurrection.

For three decades, Triton was the creative engine behind India’s most memorable campaigns. “Aah se aaha tak” for Moov. “Very very sexy” for SetWet. “Paani ka Doctor” for Aquaguard. These weren’t just taglines—they were cultural artefacts. Triton worked with titans: Eureka Forbes, Vicco, Adani Wilmar’s Fortune, Yes Bank, even state tourism boards. Then came the pandemic. The market shifted. The agency stumbled.

Enter Alchemist, a 15-year-old integrated marketing communications group with 200 employees, four offices and an appetite for empire-building. Having dominated real-estate and healthcare marketing, Alchemist wants more. Much more. With Triton, it plans to storm into FMCG, durables, direct-to-consumer brands and corporate communications. “We are not just acquiring a name; we are revitalising a legacy,” says Alchemist group managing director Manish Porwal.

The strategy is cheeky: keep Triton’s creative soul, inject Alchemist’s agile, performance-driven machinery. Alchemist director Rajkumar Remalli  puts it bluntly: it’s about “taking that foundational creative soul and powering it with the pace and performance-driven mindset that defines the Alchemist Group today.” Director and chief executive (digital) Anujita Jain sees an opportunity to rebuild Triton as a “fresh, new-age offering” for the post-pandemic world.

Merchant, who recently celebrated his milestone birthday, is philosophical. “The industry has evolved rapidly,” he reflects. “It was crucial for me to hand over the baton to a group that not only understands the ‘Triton spirit’ but has the structural strength to future-proof it.” In Alchemist, he’s found both respect for the past and hunger for the future.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Alchemist isn’t installing a chief executive—it’s hunting for a co-founder. Someone with entrepreneurial fire who can run Triton as an independent agency under the Alchemist umbrella, enjoying start-up autonomy backed by big-group muscle. It’s a bold gamble: can you bottle lightning twice?

Alchemist’s sprawling empire already includes Clay (real estate), Dotwise (digital), Aurange (healthcare and financial services), Auntourage (celebrity tie-ups), Crew (film production) and a clutch of theatre festivals in Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Now, with Triton in the fold, it’s betting that old magic and new energy can brew something extraordinary.

The alchemists, it seems, are turning base metal into gold. Again.