WPP's JWT to acquire majority stake in Hungama Digital (India)

MUMBAI — Global marketing communications agency JWT has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Hungama Digital Services, India’s leading digital agency, a move that significantly adds to JWT‟s digital offerings in this critical, high-growth market.

India overtook Indonesia as the second-largest Facebook nation in the world in February this year, and digital advertising expenditure is rising sharply as companies strive to connect with Indian consumers through social media and online. Digital ad spend in India will grow by 35% this year, according to GroupM.

Hungama Digital Services, the award-winning digital and promotions marketing unit of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., has pioneered India’s fast-changing digital marketing landscape over the last 13 years. Its service offering includes strategic planning, digital and social media marketing, mobile marketing, web design, as well as activation, merchandising and events. The company employs 120 people across six cities in India.

“With JWT, we are now part of the largest advertising network in the world. JWT Hungama is the coming together of two exceptional teams in a globally relevant market,” said Neeraj Roy, MD and CEO, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. “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. 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.”

JWT India has invested heavily to build out its digital expertise in the last few years. This latest acquisition firmly positions JWT India as a digital thought-leader with strong delivery capability in digital ideation, production, and social media.

“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,” said Colvyn Harris, CEO of JWT India.

JWT Asia Pacific has moved aggressively into the digital space across the region over the last year. Most recently XM Asia, a JWT company, agreed to acquire Magnivate, Indonesia’s leading digital agency.

“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,” said Michael Maedel, President, JWT Asia Pacific

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