By Our Staff
Marketing services conglomerate Interpublic and FCB have announced the acquisition of equity stake in Kinnect, billed as India’s largest independent digital marketing agency. While the agency will partner FCB Group India, it will continue to operate under the management of its current leadership.
We’ve prefixed the headline with a ‘Finally’ because this has been in the works for a while, and was in fact going to be announced before the pandemic or around the time. With this acquisition, the FCB group beefs up its digital media arsenal.
Founded by Rohan Mehta and Chandni Shah in 2011, Kinnect has over 350 employees working across offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Awarded Campaign South Asia’s Independent Agency of the Year multiple times, and Digital Agency of the Year 2020, Kinnect has clients such as Amazon, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, P&G Group (Ariel, Tide & Old Spice), Disney+Hotstar, Bytedance Group (the TikTok owners), TVS Motors, RPSG Group, and more.
Speaking about the acquisition, Rohit Ohri, Chairman and CEO, FCB Group India, said, “We believe that today creativity needs to be fueled by technology and data. Our ideas must not only generate greater long-term brand value but also activate business in the short term. This new partnership between the FCB Group, India’s most awarded creative agency, and Kinnect, India’s largest independent digital agency, will actualize this vision and mission for all our clients.”
In addition to creative work, the agency also has a media planning and buying arm called Media Kinnect. Although not spelt out, it’s not unlikely if it works closely with Lodestar, the media that’s part of the larger FCB network.
Kinnect also has divisions for specific activities: for influencer amd talent outreach it’s Kinnect Outreach, for reputation management and listening – Kinnect 24/7, Kinnect Tech and Kinnect Productions for production activity.
Discussing the partnership with FCB Group India, Rohan Mehta, CEO, Kinnect, said: “This development represents an exciting new chapter in our journey! As part of a global network, we see a huge opportunity to learn from their experiences and apply them in an Indian context. We will continue building new capabilities and evolving our services based on the needs of the markets while focusing on delivering the most effective solutions for our clients.”
Added Chandni Shah, COO, Kinnect: “We are thrilled to be joining forces with the FCB Group. Leveraging their expertise in building brands over decades, we hope to achieve similar legacies for our clients. Together we look forward to engineering a more transformative and holistic experience for brands and are excited about the possibilities of what we can achieve together.”