Accenture Acquires U.K. Creative Agency Karmarama
November 29 2016 - 11:04AM
Dow Jones News
By Alexandra Bruell
Accenture has acquired independent U.K.-based creative agency
Karmarama as consultancies and ad agencies continue to tread on
each other's turf.
The creative shop, comprised of over 200 people, touts clients
like the BBC, Honda, Just Eat and Unilever.
Karmarama, which was founded in 2000 and received backing from
Phoenix Equity Partners in 2011, is the latest in a series of
acquisitions that Accenture has made "to rapidly scale" its
"customer experience" offerings, the company said in a
statement.
Accenture recently acquired a majority stake in IMJ Corporation,
a digital agency in Japan; AD.Dialeto, a Brazilian digital agency;
Pacific Link, a network of digital shops serving Hong Kong and
Greater China; and Chaotic Moon, an Austin, Texas-based creative
technology agency. Accenture also acquired U.K.-based design shop
Fjord in 2013.
Agency services is an obvious add-on to consultancies that
specialize in technology and systems integration, as well as
broader strategic business consulting, especially since digital
commerce and technology have blurred the lines that once separated
marketing from other parts of a business. For example, the same
online behavioral data can now be gleaned and used to inform both
commerce and marketing strategy.
Accenture is among a flurry of consultancies that have had the
same idea, including IBM, which bought mid-sized agency
Resource/Ammirati early this year, and Deloitte, which also
recently acquired creative agency Heat.
Consultancies continue to crowd an already competitive
environment for agencies, which now also includes publishers and
tech companies, but agencies aren't rolling over just yet. For
years, shops like Ogilvy and R/GA also have invested in consulting
services, and Publicis a few years ago bet much of its future on
consulting with the acquisition of Sapient.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 29, 2016 10:49 ET (15:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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