AgTalk | Communiate 2 is a perfect fit for us: Aegis' Ashish Bhasin

Aegis Group plc, a leading media and digital communications group, has acquired digital consultancy and search marketing agency Communicate 2 Pvt Ltd (C2). The acquisition is in line with the Aegis Group’s strategy of increasing its digital profile and capability in faster growing regions. With this acquisition, Aegis Media becomes one of the strongest agencies in the digital space in India. Aegis Media's iProspect is the global leader in search and performance marketing, which would join hands with Communicate 2. The latter is a specialist performance-marketing agency, which focuses on Search Marketing, Digital Strategy Consulting, Social Media and Digital Content Production.  

 

Established in 1997, Communicate 2 focuses on search marketing, strategic digital consultancy, social media and digital content production. Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India and CEO South East Asia, Aegis Media feels that with Search going to be the fastest growing part of the digital marketing industry for the foreseeable future, the acquisition of Communicate 2 makes very good sense.  

 

To know what is on in Ashish Bhasin’s mind post this move, Adgully spoke to him on various aspects of the buy. The following is the transcript of the conversation.  

 

Adgully (AG): What is your view on big agencies buying small agencies? Consolidation was happening two years back, again we see a lot of buyouts happening in the digital space?   

 

Ashish Bhasin (AB): Yes as far as consolidation is concerned, it is a known fact that globally the top five groups control 75 per cent of advertising. Buying is a therefore a global trend and that is happening here also. It is going to be no different in India. This is due to the fact that big advertisers are global clients who prefer to deal with a single agency that has presence in many countries as that happens to provide them with the last mile  network. So that’s a trend that is certainly taking place. As far as digital is concerned, it is bound to happen more in India because digital marketing is going to be huge here. The growth that is going to be here will be explosive. Currently it is 5 per cent of the advertising industry size. More so in the search and mobile than on PC.  

 

When that is going to be part of Aegis’ business, it is but natural that our MNC clients will get more and more interested. Global clients would also want to see it happen in India. So I see it as a trend that is going to catch up. 

 

 

AB: We have five brands in Aegis Media. Globally we are leaders in Search. With this buy we become leaders in Search in India. One of our brands is iProspect, a global digital performance agency. iProspect helps brands maximise their online marketing RoI through paid search, social media strategy, search engine optimisation, display, mobile marketing, comparison shopping engines, conversion optimisation, attribution modelling and management, and other related services.

Communicate 2  will be merged into iProspect India’s existing operations, and the new entity will be called iProspectCommunicate2. Vivek Bhargava, Managing Director, Communicate 2, will continue to lead this merged entity as chief executive officer. The acquisition has just been completed, and is in line with the Aegis Group strategy of increasing its digital profile and capability in faster growing regions. Communiate 2 for us is a perfect fit and the acquisition fits in quite well. 

 

 

AB: I think mobile search will be the fastest way forward in our business. The reason is that mobile penetrations is happening very rapidly more so with availability of smart phones.  

 

 

AB: Communicate 2  is a specialist performance marketing agency which focuses on search marketing, digital strategy consulting, social media and digital content production. Communicate 2's client list includes Tata Consultancy Services, Cleartrip, ICICI Lombard and HDFC Bank, and international businesses, including Travelocity, Aviva Insurance and American Express. Communicate 2 has offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune and employs over 130 employees. It has been the oldest and the largest player in the market since 1997. We wanted to buy a major player in India with a leadership position. We found their senior people ,their products, knowledge, skills and quality of work to be very good. 

 

 

AB: I think everything will become digital eventually, the process has started. TV, newspapers everything will go digital. One part of the growth will be search led by mobile growth which will open a lot of avenues for working. Search will be driven by mobile and other devices and performance will become a very key parameter –  in that I mean performance with respect to sales for the client rather than just on the basis of number of clicks. 

 

 

AB: Last year between 35-40 per cent of our revenues came from digital. Most agencies earn 15-20 per cent from this space. In the last four years that we have been in India headed by the new management, we have grown 900 per cent in revenues and about 1200 per cent in profit. Obviously we cannot grow at that rate but whatever the market rate, we want to grow double of that i.e. 100 per cent of the market growth rate. If the market grows at 10 per cent we want to grow at 20 per cent. 

 

 

AB: So far it is not a focus for us but yes we are attacking it. A lot of outdoor related business will be mobile related, so we are integrating it as a practice in all our businesses. I believe that digital, search and mobile businesses are very important for us but we are not looking at any acquisition. 

 

 

AB: We are late entrants in this space as compared to others who are giants in this market. I want to ensure that in the next three years we are in the top three in every business that we are in. Whether it is  TV, outdoor, digital. Now in some places we are getting there. Is search we are number one. Part of the plan is that by the end of 2015 we will be in top three in every field in which we operate. Through iProspect Communicate 2 which is leader in search in India, we want to ensure that in the next three years it is double the size of the next competitor. 

 

 

AB: I would say that I have been very lucky. I have worked with some wonderful people, very good clients, advertising partners in the last 25 years that I have been in this industry. In fact the credit goes to my lovely team that made all this happen. Most of the people have worked for many years. We have moved on from a 30-35people to over 400 people in the last four years. We face no problem in attracting talent; the best of people want to join us. We create that atmosphere that builds loyalty and goodwill and engage in a lot of human development effort.