JWT has announced that it will acquire majority stake in Hungama Digital Services, the digital marketing division of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment. A new entity, Hungama Digital Services Private Limited, will operate as a full service digital agency specialising in digital marketing and social media solutions, following the development.
As part of the acquisition, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment’s activations arm Hungama Promo Marketing will become a part of Hungama Digital Services. It is expected to provide an engagement platform across online and offline deliveries.
The new entity will employ 120 people across functions - digital, creative and promotions included.
Neeraj Roy, managing director and chief executive officer, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, 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.”
“India is at the cusp of a digital revolution with the advent of 500+ million consumers getting online in the next three to four years. 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,” he added.
“Digital is our next new frontier. The idea of the partnership is to build a digital offering for our clients so 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,” said Colvyn Harris, chief executive officer, JWT India.
A JWT statement outlines JWT Asia Pacific's aggressive organic and inorganic expansion in the the digital space. Notably, XM Asia, a JWT company, agreed to acquire Indonesian digital agency Magnivate.
“We have greatly expanded our digital capability across the region, and we are not standing still. JWT will continue to hire new digital experts and explore possible acquisitions across the region this year,” added Michael Maedel, president, JWT Asia Pacific.
(Updated on 14 June)
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