Publicis Groupe adds Convonix to its digital portfolio

Publicis Groupe has announced the acquisition of Convonix, a digital marketing consulting firm based in Mumbai. The company will align with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) in India to provide digital services such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid search marketing, social media marketing and online reputation management. This follows a number of recent acquisitions announced by Publicis Groupe in India including that of Indigo Consulting (April 2012), Resultrix (August 2012), iStrat (December 2012) and MarketGate (December 2012).

The three founding members of Convonix - CEO Vishal Sampat, and co-COOs Sarfaraz Khimani and Pallav Jain - will continue to lead the agency. Convonix will operate within SMG as SMG Convonix, with two market-facing brands: SMG Digital and Convonix.

“As the first SEO organisation in India, Convonix has continued to innovate and build the very best digital capability whilst being highly respected for its ability to recruit the best talent from universities each year, and transform them into digital advertising experts through a rigorous training program," said Laura Desmond, global chief executive officer, Starcom MediaVest Group.

On the announcement, Sampat added, “We have built our reputation by focusing on talent, training, technology and performance, and doing so has enabled us to rapidly evolve with the consumer. Aligning with SMG gives us global scale and a more powerful face to the market which we can leverage to constantly improve our offering and give our clients the best tools and solutions available.”

Srikant Sastri, country chair - India, VivaKi, who is presiding over the acquisition and transition of Convonix, said, “First Resultrix, and now Convonix. We are now clearly the digital marketing leaders in India, ahead of any other global network. We are positive that this acquisition will set the tone for our next phase of digital pre-eminence both in terms of expertise and revenue and we are continuing to explore other agencies that can help us capitalise on the outstanding potential of the digital marketplace in India.”

Founded in 2003, Convonix employs over 200 digital advertising specialists serving clients such as Taj Hotels, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Group, Club Mahindra, Kodak and Aditya Birla Group. Convonix has also recently developed a proprietary in-house brand monitoring and social listening platform called IrisTrack, which enables clients to gather market insight on their products and competitors and engage customers online to improve customer service.