Aegis Group acquires Communicate2 to become Number 1 in search agency

One more digital acquisition has been announced – Aegis Group has acquired Communicate 2, a leading performance marketing and search agency in India. 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 Communicate2. The latter is a specialist performance-marketing agency, which focuses on Search Marketing, Digital Strategy Consulting, Social Media and Digital Content Production. Vivek Bhargava leads the agency that started in 1997 and has offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune. The leading clients of the agency include Tata Consultancy Services, Cleartrip, ICICI Lombard, HDFC Bank, Travelocity, Aviva Insurance and American Express.

Shared Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India & CEO South East Asia, Aegis Media, “For us Communicate2 was the obvious choice for multiple reasons – it is the oldest, largest and most competitive in search and performance marketing space. When we started speaking to them, there was a sense of comfort and we found them to be culturally aligned as well. Besides Vivek himself is the first google certified search-marketing guy in the country so his experience goes back many years in the area.” While he declined to disclose the monetary terms of the deal he agreed it is substantial and reiterated that this deal makes us the Number 1 player in Search marketing.

Post the acquisition; Vivek would also join the Aegis Media India Executive Council. Communicate2 will be merged into iProspect India’s existing operations; strengthening its network in key cities across India and providing additional service capabilities for its clients. Vivek Bhargava would continue to lead this merged entity as CEO.

The acquisition, which has just been completed, is in line with the Aegis Group’s strategy of increasing its digital profile and capability in faster growing regions. The other agencies in the group include Carat (media communications specialist), Vizeum, Posterscope (OOH sector), Brandscope, Hyperspace (Retail), Carat Fresh Integrated (Activation), PSI (Airports), Doosra (Creative) and Isobar. When asked about any other acquisition plans lined up Bhasin shared, “We want to be the top-3 in every area that we are in. That growth could be organic or inorganic.”