Publicis Groupe buys ambitious US agency to drive digital revenues up
The boss kept saying he wanted to go it alone but when French firm Publicis came along with half-a-billion, it seemed like a good idea to take the money
Publicis Groupe of Paris now owns three of the 10 top digital shops by 2010 revenue: No. 1 Digitas, No. 4 Razorfish and No. 8 Rosetta. Rosetta, based in New Jersey has clients primarily in health care, retail and financial services clients. It had $218 million in revenue last year, up 23% from the prior year.
Reporting the deal, Ad Age magazine pointed out that In January, it had named Rosetta its top pick of shops to watch in the coming year.
Rosetta's health-care expertise may well have attracted Publicis. They already have a clint in common: Johnson & Johnson, for which Razorfish does corporate brand and other marketing work.
Rosetta CEO Chris Kuenne has in the past been outspoken about keeping Rosetta independent and growing not by selling, but by buying other companies, three in the last three years.
Kuenne started Rosetta in 1998 after 10 years in marketing at J&J, leading the Band-Aid and Tylenol brands . He will continue to lead the agency, reporting to Jean-Yves Naouri, chief operating officer of Publicis.
Maurice Levy, chairman-CEO of Publicis Groupe, said, "Rosetta combines its savoir-faire in consulting and strategic services with its expertise in technology and creative agency services." Publicis wants to build share of revenue from digital from its current 28% to 35% in the next three years.
Last year Kuehne had said in a newspaper interview, "We are really focused on becoming the No. 1 interactive agency on the planet. Numbers 1 and 2 (Digitas and Razorfish) were recently acquired by Publicis. We are growing faster and are more profitable than they. We grew by 35 percent in 2008 and they grew eight percent." Now, announcing the Publicis deal, Mr. Kuenne said : "We recognise that in order to achieve our long-term business and geographic growth potential, we need the reach and resources of a global group. We have found a culturally compatible, growth-oriented partner in Publicis Groupe."