The Indian ad market is growing at around 14 per cent, according to GroupM’s predictions for 2019, and already this year Havas has bought UX consultancy Think Design and digital agency Langoor, so experiential agency Shobiz makes three.
Shobiz was founded in 1982 and employs 300 staff in five offices across India. The agency will continue to be led by its CEO Sameer Tobaccowala, who will report to Vishnu Mohan, the chairman and CEO of Havas Group India and South East Asia.
Yannick Bolloré, chairman and CEO of Havas Group, said: “India has increasingly become a priority for Havas, and even more so over the past 12 months. With the acquisition of Shobiz we have delivered on our ambitious growth plan to triple our footprint in India… We can now significantly boost our activation and experiential offer on the rapidly growing events market in India.”
Havas bought management consultancy Gate One in the UK a week ago, and you can’t fault Bolloré for his efforts to build the business and diversify its offer to clients, but perhaps the work should be a priority for a while. The recent acquisition of Paris agency Buzzman, along with the hiring of Vicki Maguire as London chief creative officer, show that Bolloré is working at this.
