Decade Samosa: Mergers & Acquisitions that shaped the industry

In the decade that went by, a multitude of Indian and Global agencies expanded their horizons through mergers and acquisitions, paving the way for newer conglomerates and power personalities.

The textbook method to enter a new market or to expand presence in one is to make friends with the ones already on the playground. The idea is often to leverage their expertise instead of starting from scratch. In the last decade, most of the mergers and acquisitions involving agencies followed the basics.

This decade, Dentsu Aegis Network expanded its network in India by acquiring the likes of Taproot, WebChutney, WATConsult, Happy Mcgarrybowen, and Fractal. In 2019 itself, Havas Group brought three agencies under its fold. Wunderman is another player to have steadily expanded in India in the last few years.

Most of the acquisitions focussed on consolidating niche reach and specialty services as a part of bigger offerings given by mainline agencies. A number of mergers & acquisitions were also based on the idea of amalgamating parties of equal stature to form a stronger alliance.

This was also the decade that was about to witness the purported merger of Omnicom and Publicis, a deal that many pegged as a comeback to the leadership position by enjoyed by WPP led by Martin Sorrell the then leader of the media group.

While this particular merger couldn't pan out due to a magnitude of challenges, many others happen though of smaller amounts and nature, yet as significant.

Social Samosa takes a look at the Mergers & Acquisitions that shaped the media & advertising industry into the stronghold it is today.

August 2012: Dentsu acquires 51% stake in Taproot

January 2013: Publicis acquires iStrat and MarketGate

March 2013: Interactive Avenues bought by IPG Mediabrands

March 2013: Convonix is now a part of Publicis Groupe

May 2013: Dentsu acquires 80% stake in Webchutney

July 2013: To The New acquires Singapore-based Techsailor

July 2013: Gozoop acquires Red Digital

September 2013: TO THE NEW acquires ThoughtBuzz, integrates social media analytics capabilities

September 2013: Kuliza Acquires Crowdnub, Adepto’s Social App platform

September 2013: Ogilvy & Mather acquires PennyWise Solutions

October 2013: Publicis Groupe acquires Beehive Communications

December 2013: Kreata Global acquires Social Media Marketing firm Flamingos Media

December 2013: Digital Content Services Firm Trivone acquires Godot Media

February 2014: DDB Mudra Acquires 22feet, forms 22feet Tribal Worldwide

February 2014: Infibeam acquires Bangalore-based Digital Agency ODigMa

March 2014: JWT acquires majority stake in Social Wavelength

July 2014: Mu Sigma acquires Singapore-based Webfluenz

July 2014: Everymedia Technologies acquires stake in UK-based Plus 1 Digital

July 2014: iThink InfoTech becomes Gozoop's second acquisition in India

October 2014: Cognizant Acquires Digital Marketing Agency Cadient Group

January 2015: Dentsu Aegis Network acquires Majority Stake in Social and Digital Media Agency – WATConsult

February 2015: Publicis Groupe completes Sapient acquisition

May 2015: Digital Vidya acquires digital marketing education firm Digital Academy India

October 2015: ​DAN acquires Fountainhead Entertainment

March 2016: Meltwater acquires Encore Alert to strengthen its social offering

June 2016: Leo Burnett merges Publicis iStrat and Indigo Consulting

September 2016: Fork Media acquires majority stake in Inuxu

October 2016: Happy Creative Services acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network, to be rebranded as Happy Mcgarrybowen

October 2016: S.P.A.G. acquires Giga Health

December 2016: DAN acquires Mumbai-based Fractal

April 2017: Dentsu Aegis Network acquires SVG from Smile Group

July 2017: Dentsu Aegis Network acquires analytics agency Sokrati

August 2017: Fork Media acquires majority stake in audio advertising platform Rappio

August 2017: Madison Media acquires majority stake in HiveMinds

February 2018: GroupM acquires digital creative agency, The Glitch

March 2018: Laqshya Media group acquires Digitalabs

April 2018: Meltwater acquires leading social analytics company Sysomos

April 2019: Everymedia Technologies acquires Digimile Media

April 2018: M&C Saatchi acquires Scarecrow Communications

July 2018: S4 Capital acquires MediaMonks

September 2018: Wunderman acquires marketing technology performance company, Emark

September 2018: Wunderman acquires Amazon-focused content and campaign agency 2Sales

September 2018: WPP merges Y&R with VML to form VMLY&R

October 2018: Grey Group acquires majority stake in Autumn Worldwide

October 2018: IPG Completes Acquisition of Acxiom LLC

November 2018: GOZOOP acquires real-time marketing agency HAT Media

November 2018: WPP merges J. Walter Thompson With Wunderman forming Wunderman Thompson

January 2019: Lowe Lintas and PointNine Lintas merge

February 2019: DAN SEA acquires Singapore based Happy Marketer Group

May 2019: Havas Group acquires UX design firm – Think Design

June 2019: RateGain acquires BCV, a hospitality-focused social media provider

June 2019: Edgytal India gets acquired by IntellaSphere USA

July 2019: Publicis Groupe announces the acquisition of Epsilon

July 2019: Dentsu Aegis Network acquires majority stake in Ugam

July 2019: Monk Media Network acquires SocialGIZ

August 2019: Gozoop gets UI/UX & Tech Specialist HEPTA into the fold

September 2019: Havas Group pursues India expansion with Langoor

October 2019: Falcon.io acquires Unmetric

October 2019: Blue Vector acquires inbound marketing firm, ContentNinja

November 2019: MediaMonks announces merger with WhiteBalance

December 2019: Havas Group acquires experiential agency Shobiz