OOH Media acquires AdImpact

OOH Media, India’s largest out-of-home television company, has acquired AdImpact, a premier OOH television company based in Mumbai.

OOH Media has 3,000 screens across 22 markets in India. With this acquisition OOH Media will get an additional 1,200 screens of AdImpact.

Ishan Raina, CEO, OOH Media said, “AdImpact has some wonderful properties, including key Nariman Point buildings, INOX nationally and other excellent properties across Mumbai and Bangalore. These properties are prime location for us and it is always an advantage to own these sites.”

AdImpact is now a 100 per cent subsidiary of OOH Media.

“We have absorbed all the people of AdImpact,” said Raina. However, he would not divulge financial details of the deal.

OOH Media has plans to go public in the next two or three years.

The out-of-home television segment in India is in a nascent stage and has only 4,500 screens till date. “This is just the beginning. Five hundred to 600 screens are being added every month,” Raina said.

Raina is optimistic about the future of the medium. “With new buildings, multiplexes, tech parks coming up OOH media is all set to grow faster.” OOH Media was created nine months ago by Ishan Raina, former CEO of Euro RSCG, together with with 3i, one of the world’s leading private equity groups. OOH Media also has a strategic relationship with Focus Media, the world’s largest out-of-home TV company.

(Source: Business Standard)

Publicis to acquire Capital Advertising

French advertising major Publicis Groupe is buying out Capital Advertising lock, stock and barrel. Capital is perhaps one of the last mid-sized Indian agencies along with Madison who are thriving on their own steam in the intensely competitive advertising and marketing space.

Set up in 1992, Capital’s large clients include businesses from LG and Maruti. The deal is being done through Publicis’ Netherlands subsidiary.

According to ad industry sources, Capital, just like Sam Balsara’s Madison, has been on the radar of several communications majors, including McCann Erickson. Early last year, Michael Berkin, the vice-chairman of global major Omnicom, held discussions with the promoters of Capital, Sunil Sachdeva and HV Subramaniam, to partner the agency and use it as the launch pad for the group.

“Global networks like Publicis and Dentsu, who have been late entrants to India, suffer from an inferiority complex-of-sorts. They all want to be respectable competitors to WPP and are therefore hungry for acquisitions to build scale,” said a industry source. “And this is the best time to do it.”

India’s blazing growth has thrown up several emerging sectors, with bulge-bracket marketing spends prompting global networks like the WPP group (it owns JWT and O&M), Publicis, Dentsu and IPG to look at acquisitions in every possible area.

By acquiring Capital, Publicis will build scale (around Rs 100 crore billings annually) in the traditional ad space. Also, it can use the Indian agency for pitching for conflicting accounts.

Capital was set up in 1992 by three promoters. The current shareholders in the company are HV Subramanian (47.5%), Sunil Sachdeva (47.5%) and Parshuraman Narayan (5%). It has around 50 employees and a total capitalised billings of around Rs 100-120 crore.

(Source: Economic Times )

JWT india to acquire agencies in events and digital space

JWT India, the largest advertising agency in India is planning to acquire a slew of mid-sized specialist agencies to enter new sectors such as digital communications and event management.

The agency is in talks with DNA Networks in Bangalore, Showbiz and Midas events.

Main reasons for acquisition strategy: Dearth of talent in the creative space, ability to offer a 360 degree communication plan.