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 ZoneFranche SAS (Head Office: Paris; hereinafter "ZoneFranche"), a fast-growing cross-activation agency in France with strengths in experiential marketing, to acquire the company.
Founded in 2004, ZoneFranche has steadily captured an increasing share of the growing activation market, and is currently one of the leading agencies with a focus on consumer brand experience and experienced value. The company also offers a wide range of communications services including digital, mobile, advertising and promotion solutions that leverage social media, customer relationship management (CRM), and other marketing activities to enhance the purchasing experience. These innovative, high-quality services have earned it high praise from prominent companies in France as well as in other countries.
Post-acquisition, ZoneFranche will become part of experiential marketing agency psLIVE, one of the Dentsu Group's specialist brands. During the next 12 months, psLIVE will be realigned as MKTG, the Group's lifestyle marketing brand headquartered in New York and one of its nine global network brands.
The impact of this transaction on Dentsu's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2015 is expected to be minimal.
A profile of ZoneFranche is provided on the following page.
Profile of ZoneFranche
Company Name: ZoneFranche SAS
Headquarters Location: Paris, France
Date of Establishment: December 2004
Shareholding Ratio*: Dentsu Aegis Network 100%
*After acquisition has been completed
Revenue: EUR 4,330,000 (year ended December 2014)
Representative: Olivier Albert (CEO)
Number of Employees: 40
Line of Business: Provision of a wide range of communications services with a focus on the brand activation domain
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