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Accenture plans Asia Pacific expansion for new acquisition The Monkeys

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By Danielle Long, Acting APAC Editor

May 19, 2017 | 5 min read

Accenture plans to expand The Monkeys brand across the Asia Pacific region, following its recent acquisition of the creative agency.

The Monkeys

The Monkeys will expand across APAC off the back of the agency's acquisition by Accenture

Michael Buckley, head of Accenture Interactive Australia and New Zealand, told The Drum, the Sydney-based agency will open a Melbourne office within the next six months, with a New Zealand office to follow.

“We have plans to grow the Monkeys in Asia Pacific, “Buckley said. “As demand grows we’ll continue to expand.”

The Monkeys chief executive officer Mark Green added, “Part of the reason that we linked up with Accenture is that we wanted to grow the brand beyond Sydney.

“Melbourne is the obvious next move but we feel that there are opportunities throughout the region over time. As we get through each move we will look at different ways to grow from there.”

The expansion plans follow last week’s acquisition of The Monkeys, the most awarded independent creative agency in Australia, and its sister design agency Maud.

The agencies will become part of Accenture Interactive (AI), the agency brand within the consultancy, and will work with other AI agencies, such as design agency Fjord on new projects.

The Monkeys and Maud are the latest in a string of agency acquisitions by Accenture as it seeks to create what it calls the “new breed of agency”.

According to Buckley, while Accenture Interactive had strengths in consulting and digital, creative was the missing piece of the puzzle.

“The real purpose behind the acquisition was to create a new model, one that is part creative, part consultancy and part technology. Bringing those three elements together means we can now offer our clients an end-to-end experience.

“Our clients are demanding that their experience is seamless because the customer has this expectation of a seamless experience. We believe that with this acquisition we can now make that experience end-to-end.

“The piece of the puzzle that we were missing was brand strategy and a creative agency. What this now means is that the creative idea that was previously unable to come to life from a technology perspective, can now truly come to life.

“We have the analytics, mobility, the content play, marketing and technology, and now with the creative ideas from the Monkeys, it brings it all together. That’s the really exciting part, the creative element that can now be scaled through technology and we can put scale behind the ideas that the Monkeys bring, ” said Buckley.

This ability to scale creative ideas was a big factor in The Monkeys decision to sell to Accenture, said Green.

“I think it presents a great business opportunity and a great opportunity to do big things, particularly from a creative standpoint,” said Green. “It will expand what we can make and what we can do for our clients and we’ll be able to imbue creativity much higher up the food chain.

“For the last ten years, what has motivated us is to always keep redefining what we’re doing and what we’re learning, and this represents that evolution of our business.”

“I think the opportunity to bring that end-to-end solution together feels like where the demand is in the market right now. The industry that we both operate in is changing rapidly and I think the combination of what we both do closes the loop on some of those loose ends,” said Green.

The acquisition of The Monkeys and Maud is the 12th acquisition by Accenture since 2013. It already owns UK independent agency Karmarama, German digital agency SinnerSchrader, Belgium-based integrated communications agency, Kunstmaan, the Japanese full-service digital agency IMJ, independent Brazilian digital agency AD.Dialeto, creative tech studio Chaotic Moon, Swedish content creator Brightstep, design agency Fjord, and Melbourne-based Reactive.

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