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Tag: WPP

  • WPP buys digital agency AKQA

    MUMBAI: Global advertising giant WPP is buying stake in San Francisco based digital agency AKQA, the last big digital shops not yet public or owned by a holding company.

    Though the purchase price was not revealed, the digital agency is valued at $450 million and trade estimates peg the price around that figure.

    AKQA is backed by private-equity firm General Atlantic and at the end of 2011 had gross assets of $282 million with a forecast of profits to the tune of $230 million in 2012 as opposed to $189 million in 2011.

    The announcement was made during the annual Cannes Lions held in Paris, France. AKQA will continue to operate as an independent and standalone brand within WPP and be led by founder and CEO Ajaz Ahmed and chairman Tom Bedecarré.

    Bedacarre will also become president of WPP Ventures, a new Silicon-Valley based digital investment company.

    Two years back, AKQA was approached by Japanese media house Dentsu, but the latter soon exited the talks. According top media reports, the asking price at the time was between $550 million and $600 million which was also speculated to be the reason for Dentsu’s withdrawal.

    WPP too tried twice before things finally fell in place.

    AKQA currently employs 1,160 people all over the globe and has offices in U.S., Europe and Shanghai. It provides expertise in integrated digital communications campaigns, social media, mobile, gaming work, and content creation and has clients like Delta, Diageo, EDF, GAP, Google, Microsoft Xbox, Nike, Target, Unilever and Virgin Money.

  • WPP buys minority stake in Istropolitana Slovakia

    MUMBAI: Global advertising giant WPP‘s wholly-owned global marketing communications group Ogilvy & Mather has acquired a minority stake in Slovakian entity Communication Group, the holding company for the Istropolitana group of companies.

    The acquisition reiterates WPP‘s intention to establish itself in the fast growing and developing markets.

    Headquartered in Bratislava, Istropolitana was founded in 1992 and is a full service advertising agency employing close to 95 people and serving clients like Heineken, Slovak Telecom and VUB Banka.

    Its consolidated unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were reported in the media at €4.509 million, with gross assets of €3.672 million.

    Recently, another WPP wholly-owned subsidiary JWT acquired a majority stake Indian digital agency Hungama Digital Services, before which the KBM Group acquired France based Predictys. Earlier this year, Ogilvy & Mather acquired a stake in Myanmar-based advertising agency, Today Advertising.

  • WPP posts 5% jump in revenues for first four months of 2012

    MUMBAI: Global media conglomerate WPP has posted a revenue of $5.1 billion for the first four months of 2012, registering a five per cent growth over the year ago period.

    Continuing the trend form 2011, advertising and media investment management and branding and identity, healthcare and specialist communications (including direct, digital and interactive) were the strongest services sectors.

    Also in continuation was the pattern of slower growth in the mature markets of the United States and Western Continental Europe. Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe continued to post strong growth.

    Growth in the BRIC countries was over 14 per cent, while Latin America continued to show the strongest growth of all of our sub-regions in the first four months with constant currency revenues up 16.1 per cent. The Middle East remained the most challenged sub-region, although April showed a significant improvement over the first quarter.

    BRIC countries accounted for over $760 million revenues, including associates, in the first four months and over $2.3 billion in the full year 2011.

    For the remainder of 2012, the company’s focus will remain on growing revenues and gross margin faster than the industry average, driven by its leading position in new markets, new media, consumer insight, including data analytics and the application of technology and ‘horizontality’, the company said.

    At the same time, it will concentrate on meeting its operating margin objective by managing absolute levels of costs and increasing cost flexibility in order to adapt structure to significant market changes.

  • WPP on the prowl for digital deals in India, buys 51% of Hungama Digital via JWT

    MUMBAI: WPP is on the prowl for digital deals in India as it seeks to expand its business in emerging markets to beat the slow growth in the matured markets of the United States and western continental Europe.

    Continuing its acquisition spree in the digital space, WPP has taken a 51 per cent stake in Mumbai-based Hungama Digital Services. Earlier, WPP had shopped in Indonesia, acquiring digital agency Magnivate.

    The purchase is made through JWT Singapore, a wholly-owned operating company of WPP. Opening up the next new frontier, JWT will control the digital and promotions marketing division of Hungama Digital Entertainment.

    WPP’s hunger to grow in the digital space is obvious as it has set itself a target of getting 35-40 per cent of its revenues from this medium in the next five years. The agency’s digital revenues totalled $4.8 billion in 2011, representing approximately 30 per cent of the group’s total revenues of over $16 billion.

    The new investment in Hungama Digital is in line with WPP’s strategy of developing its services in fast-growing markets and sectors and strengthening its capabilities in the digital media.

    Says JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris, “Digital is our next new frontier. The idea of the partnership is to build a digital offering for our clients so that we can live up to being a ‘single source’ partner across all their ‘marketing solutions’ needs. What will be most effective in the future is a new set of talented, digital high end specialists who will add new skills and capabilities to what JWT already offers to its clients. We want all our clients to be leaders in their respective categories.”

    The new entity will be a full service digital agency specialising in digital marketing and social media solutions. Hungama’s activations arm, Hungama Promo Marketing will become a part of Hungama Digital Services and provide an engagement platform linked to online and offline deliveries.

    For JWT, the new buy will help WPP participate in India’s digital revolution with an estimated 500 million consumers going online in the next 3-4 years.

    The existing team of 120 people of Hungama Digital Services will continue to drive the agency. They will service old and new clients and offer creative and promo marketing services, viral marketing campaigns, social media marketing and mobile marketing, applications, managing websites and video services.
    JWT Asia Pacific has moved aggressively into the digital space over the last year. It has expanded both organically and through acquisitions.

    Hungama Digital is WPP’s second digital buy in India and comes after five years. In 2007, WPP had bought out majority stake in Quasar Media in 2007.

    Hungama Digital Services offers strategic planning, web design and maintenance, digital marketing, search engine marketing, social media optimisation and communications strategy, rich media, viral marketing campaigns, merchandising, events and conference management, and sampling. The agency has clients like Mahindra & Mahindra, Bacardi, Godfrey Philips, Britannia Industries, Tupperware India and Hindustan Unilever in its portfolio.

    Says Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD and CEO Neeraj Roy said, “With JWT, we are now part of the largest advertising network in the world. Hungama Digital Services is the coming together of two exceptional teams in a globally relevant market. From augmented reality to developing applications for connected devices, Hungama Digital Services has been at the forefront of digital technology. With this partnership with JWT, we hope to offer integrated digital and experiential services to our clients and prepare brands to connect, interact and now transact with their customers.”

    India is beginning to live the story of acquisition in the digital space, which is bound to grow by leaps and bounds. In April 2012, Publicis had bought out Mumbai-based full service digital agency Indigo Consulting, a company which provides website design and development, search engine optimisation, usability research and testing, and marketing online, on mobiles and social media.

    “The game is very simple. Digital is at the centre of an agency’s planning today. Either you have managed to work out a deal with a digital agency that offers full range of digital services or you bring different digital agencies with different specialties under one umbrella,” explains Leo Burnett chairman and CEO, India sub-continent Arvind Sharma.

  • WPP’s Cohn & Wolfe appoints Charlotte Chunawala as India CEO

    Mumbai: Cohn & Wolfe, WPP‘s global communication agency, has appointed Charlotte Chunawala as CEO of India operations.

    The agency was launched in India in April this year. It has opened offices in Mumbai and Delhi to meet growing client needs for a presence in India.

    Chunawala will be responsible for all operations in India, providing strategic client counsel, leading new business efforts and ensuring integration with the agency‘s offices across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

    She will report in to Cohn & Wolfe CEO Donna Imperato. She will be supported by Mumbai head Dolly Tayal and Delhi head Piyal Banerjee.

    Cohn & Wolfe India will be supported by former Unilever India communications head Irfan Khan, who will serve as chairman of the board, and Prema Sagar, the PR thought leader in India, who will sit on the board and serve in a mentoring role as the agency continues its expansion.

    Imperato said, “These are dynamic times for development in India and there is tremendous potential for growth in the region. I am grateful to have a partner in Charlotte who brings a deep understanding of these market dynamics, and whose experience will greatly enhance our ability to serve clients who are looking for communications support in one of the fastest growing economies in the world.”

    Chunawala added, “I am excited to be heading Cohn and Wolfe‘s entry into the Indian market. With clients constantly demanding better brand understanding and brand definition, who better to work with than Cohn and Wolfe, which is recognised internationally as a leader in brand strategy.”

    Chunawala comes in with over 15 years of global experience in agency and consultant work in the UK, Europe and South Asia. She has managed high-profile client programs across key verticals including consumer, corporate and financial communications as well as public affairs. Chunawala has also worked with Good Relations India CEO and Edelman Brussels GM.

    Cohn & Wolfe is a firm dedicated to creating, building and protecting corporate brands. Its mission is to support through a mix of both traditional and unconventional marketing and public relations techniques designed to build media visibility, develop customer relationships and drive brand favorability and sales. Areas of expertise include consumer marketing, healthcare, IT and B2B communications. The agency has more than 1,100 employees in over 50 offices across North America, EMEA, and Asia.

  • WPP strengthens digital foothold with acquisition of Predictys

    MUMBAI: Wunderman owned data-driven, insight-based customer engagement provider KBM Group, will be acquiring Predictys, a marketing company specialising in digital data and campaign technology. KBM Group‘s parent company, Wunderman, is part of the Young & Rubicam Group and a member of WPP. The move comes as a step towards strengthening WPP‘s position in the digital marketing space.

    Based in France, Predictys was founded in 2007 and has rapidly growing data resources owing to an influx of digital information from other countries. Predictys will not only strengthen KBM Group‘s value to clients in France; the acquisition also strategically fuels KBM Group‘s growth throughout Europe, the US and Latin America.

    Predictys‘ database powers its digital automated marketing services for customer acquisition via proprietary automated systems for managing and optimizing email marketing campaigns. The company‘s scalable email campaign technology, offered directly to clients or to e-marketing agencies, provides additional opportunities for KBM Group to build its marketing offerings.

    Working closely with its parent company Wunderman, KBM Group acts as the data engine, helping to connect ‘always-on‘ customers with global brands. On a broader agency network level, the value of data and customer intelligence extends as well to WPP, the global advertising and marketing services group, of which they are a part.

    KBM Group CEO Gary S Laben said, “The oceans of data generated by always-connected consumers of all ages present both a challenge and an opportunity for global marketers. As companies accelerate their marketing around the world, they need to be able to find and reach consumers on their personal devices efficiently and with informed strategies based on the best possible representations of who their most receptive and profitable customers might be. By adding Predictys‘ data resources to our own, we can better offer our global clients a way to harness data to forge customer engagements that are successful and meaningful. Marketing that is customer intelligent delights consumers and so enables companies to stay competitive.”

    Predictys‘ cooperative database includes information from 140 million opted-in consumers from among more than 25 co-op partners. The database powers Predictys‘ automated campaign software serving agencies and clients, including Snapfish, Galeries Lafayette and Swiss Life.

  • O&M acquires stake in Myanmar’s Today Advertising

    MUMBAI: WPP owned creative agency Ogilvy & Mather has acquired a stake in Myanmar’s advertising agency, Today Advertising.

    Yangon-based Today Advertising employs 60 people.

    “Today Advertising has a great reputation in Myanmar. We believe they are the perfect partner to work alongside us and our clients as the business potential of Asia’s newest frontier becomes apparent,” said Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific chief executive officer Paul Heath.

    WPP has had discussions with Today Advertising for long and, finally, has been able to consummate it.

    Added Today Advertising CEO Michael Lim, “Ogilvy & Mather Michael Lim is clearly the leader of all the international networks so it makes perfect sense to become partners.”

    In all, WPP‘s businesses in the Asia Pacific region currently generate revenues of more than $4 billion, and employ nearly 42,000 people, contributing to group revenues of over $16 billion, including associates, and total employees of over 158,000.

  • Meridian infuses young blood to leadership

    Meridian infuses young blood to leadership

    MUMBAI: WPP’s group company Meridian Communication has handed over the creative mantle of its Mumbai office to Ogilvy‘s Anuraag Khandelwal and Satish deSa. Both have been promoted to the rank of executive creative directors and will assume this new responsibility with effect from 1 June.

    Anuraag and Satish together boast a collective wealth of 26 years industry experience that Meridian hopes will help reinforce its creative output. Both have spent time forging partnerships at Ogilvy Mumbai and have been involved in the conceptualisation of campaigns for brands like Tata Motors, IPL, Cadbury, Tata Sky, Aegon Religare Life Insurance, Unilever’s Beverages, Oberoi Realty and Hutch.

    Ogilvy Group South Asia executive chairman and CEO Piyush Pandey said, “Meridian has found itself two young men who are very ambitious and full of exciting ideas. I have asked them to make Meridian a place that gives their friends at Ogilvy sleepless nights. I’m sure it will be healthy competition and result in some great advertising on both sides of the family.”

    Khandelwal said, “When we were asked to head Meridian, Mumbai, I thought – here is another opportunity to challenge ourselves. Each time we’ve done that, we’ve been encouraged by the outcome. We’re sure this time won’t be any different. Can’t wait to get started.”

  • Martin Sorrell’s 10 marketing commandments

    Martin Sorrell’s 10 marketing commandments

    MUMBAI: WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell feels that the shift toward the east and south will continue. Apart from China in the East and India in South-East Asia, Sorrell feels that the Germany-Poland-Russian cluster in Eastern Europe will be a force to reckon, along with Russia, as long the price of oil stays above $100 a barrel.

    In the southern hemisphere, Latin America and Brazil hold significant opportunity. Other significant areas would be the Middle East and Africa, particularly South Africa.

    Sorrell was sharing his perspective on the key global trends facing marketers and agencies at the Association of National Advertiser‘s annual Advertising Financial Management conference in Florida.

    Disintermediation would be an important trend as the web will continue to create new business models and an attractive destination for consumers, according to a Forbes report on Sorrell‘s talk at the Association.

    Sorrell also pointed out that there will be shrinkage in capacity in human capital. In many categories there continues to be a supply overcapacity because of the growth of South Korean, Chinese, Indian and Brazilian manufacturing. Though there is no shortage in capacity, human capital is becoming scarcer. The main reason attributed to this is aging population which will make it harder for companies to find, incentivise, and motivate talent 20 years from now.

    According to the WPP CEO, major retailers like Wal-Mart, Tesco, and Carrefour are likely to lean harder on manufacturers of consumer packaged goods as they face a tough competitive environment. The CPG manufacturers will in turn apply more pressure on their suppliers.

    Sorrell predicted that there will be an increase in the importance of internal communications as more CEOs focus on it and make sure that people understand and live ‘the brand‘ as well as the vision and strategy of the company. This will be a key challenge and an opportunity in the coming years.

    As companies are centralising power in response to the increase of local influence, he foresees regional management becoming intermediated and this development will be accelerated technology.

    Observing the fact that the collapse of Lehman Bros. in 2008 impacted corporate more than consumer behaviour. Sorrell predicts that companies are likely to maintain a cautious financial stance for the foreseeable future as finance and procurement play a more active role than marketing.

    In Sorrell‘s opinion, governments will continue to play a bigger role as has been the outcome of the financial crisis.

    Also, sustainability is the central issue for every CEO. Lastly, agency consolidations are driven primarily by compensation pressure, and the relationships and the advertising industry‘s structure are determined by that pressure.

  • Havas reveals rebranding plans

    Havas reveals rebranding plans

    MUMBAI: Worldwide communications group Havas chief executive of advertising David Jones has revealed plans to rebrand the agencies under the company as it repositions for an increasingly digital future.

    The group‘s new clients for online marketing include Unilever and Sony Playstation.

    Jones said that the group will be retiring the 20-year-old Euro RSCG name for Havas’ largest creative network and bringing almost the whole group under the Havas brand.

    Euro RSCG was formed in 1991 by the merger of two French agencies Eurocom and RSCG formed in the mid-1970s. The company structure will be consolidated into Havas Advertising and Havas Media. Jones was quoted in the Financial Times, “Within that we will launch Havas Digital as an umbrella brand for digital.”

    He further informed that he aimed to take on competitors like WPP and Publicis and create a model that contrasted their structures.

    According to FT, Jones said, “The rebranding of Euro RSCG will reinforce the fact that our competitors have hundreds of brands and cultures and CEOs, and ours is an incredibly clear and simple structure. We haven’t got big, old-fashioned ad agencies that just do TV ads and have a separate digital silo.”

    Havas Digital will not have its own independent leadership or financial structure. The repositioning will underline Havas‘ more integrated model for providing services for example, by bringing formerly separate media-buying and creative teams into the same buildings in Paris and New York.

    Meanwhile, Havas announced its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2011. The group has registered net income of 120 million euros, up 9 per cent from 110 million euros in 2010.

    The revenue for the year was recorded at 1.65 billion euros, which is 5.6 per cent more than the revenue for fiscal 2010 at 1.56 billion euros.

    The group informed in an official communiqué that its digital and social media grew rapidly and increased their contribution to the company’s overall revenue, as the group pursued its strategy of putting these businesses at the core of all its activities and agencies around the world. Digital and social media made up 23 per cent of the total group‘s revenue.

    The geographical revenue break up reveals that Asia-Pacific reported growth of 9.8 per cent for full-year 2011.