Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that its global business headquarters Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd. (hereinafter "Dentsu Aegis Network") has reached an agreement with the principal shareholders of Fountainhead Entertainment Pvt. Ltd (Head Office: Mumbai; hereinafter "Fountainhead"), a prominent event and experiential agency in India, to acquire a 90% stake in the company with an option in place that would allow expansion in steps to 100% at a later date. Clients in India are showing an increasing interest in the brand activation and experiential marketing domain, a rapidly growing market sector.
Brand activation is a marketing technique that increases consumer engagement (emotional involvement in a brand) through marketing events that enable them to actually experience products and services, which in turn promotes purchasing in the short term and increases affection for and confidence in the brand in the medium-to-long term. Founded in 1994, Fountainhead has grown to become one of India's most reputed experiential agencies, with extensive experience in both music and sports marketing. The company also offers services that leverage SNS and other digital media platforms.
Post-acquisition, Fountainhead will work closely with the Dentsu Group's experiential marketing agency psLIVE, and it is envisaged that the two agencies will be amalgamated in 2016, making the combined operation the largest brand activation marketing agency in India.
The Group already has extensive business operations in India, and the acquisition of Fountainhead will both accelerate its growth strategy in this market and expand the variety of value-added client services provided by the entire Group.
The impact of this transaction on Dentsu's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015 is expected to be minimal.
The Dentsu Group's Business Operations in India
The Dentsu Group provides holistic solutions through its full-service agencies Dentsu Communications, Dentsu Creative Impact and Dentsu Marcom; creative agency Taproot Dentsu; media communications agencies Carat, Dentsu Media and Vizeum; digital agencies Dentsu Webchutney, iProspect, Isobar and WatConsult; OOH agencies Milestone Brandcom and Posterscope; experiential marketing agency psLIVE; and global trading desk Amnet.
Profile of Fountainhead
Company Name: Fountainhead Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
Headquarters Location: Mumbai, India
Branch offices in Delhi and Bangalore
Year of Establishment: 1994 (Operations commenced in February 1995)
Shareholding Ratio*: Dentsu Aegis Network 90%
Fountainhead management 10%
*After acquisition has been completed
Revenue: INR 340,000,000 (year ended March 2015)
Representatives: Brian Tellis (Chairman)
Neale Murray (Managing Director)
Number of Employees: 205
Line of Business: Provision of digital marketing, event marketing, promotions-related and other services in the brand activation domain
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