A new challenger approaches: Infosys grabs indie Wongdoody, throws hat in consultancy-agency fray
Consulting group Infosys announced its acquisition of Seattle-based independent agency Wongdoody, its first in the United States.
Infosys gobbles up Seattle-based indie Wongdoody, enters fray of consultancies looking to usurp agencies
Wongdoody has joined the India-based business consultancy in its march to create a competitive offering to advertising holding companies like WPP and Omnicom, and also Accenture, Deloitte and others, which have acquired design firms and agencies.
Infosys had purchased a London-based design and customer experience firm called Brilliant Basics, which now stretches the consultancy’s digital offering to London, Melbourne, Seattle and Los Angeles, in addition to its Bengaluru and Pune, India offices.
Said Ravi Kumar S, president and deputy chief operating officer at Infosys: "We are focused on partnering with global brands and chief marketers to help them on their digital transformation journeys. Wongdoody's expertise in driving innovative, creative solutions is already yielding significant results in our initial collaborations with clients, and this acquisition will further enhance Infosys' capabilities in this space.”
"Wongdoody is a stellar addition to the Infosys Digital family," added Scott Sorokin, the global head of Infosys’ digital arm added. "Their creative excellence and reputation for driving engaging digital customer experiences that operate at the intersection of advertising, retail, technology, and design precede them. I'm personally excited to work closely with the Wongdoody team to strengthen our customer experience capabilities and bring new thinking, talent and innovation to our global clients.”
Wongdoody founder and chairman, Tracy Wong, said: "Joining forces with Infosys gives us the power to implement our creativity in ways that weren't possible before. Brand experiences, powered and backed by Infosys' digital and technological might, can change the trajectory of our clients' businesses and revolutionize how customers experience their brands. It's a great honor for us to complete a true end-to-end Infosys engagement offering."
"As our clients grapple with the implications of digital disruption for their brands and customers, joining Infosys gives us instant scale and expertise to leverage data and user experience insights to build brand platforms for the future," said Ben Wiener, Wongdoody’s chief executive. "This is a unique marriage of digital strategy, creative and technology talents to build the agency model that modern CMOs are demanding."
Acquisitions have heated up in the past few months, with Wongdoody one of the more prominent names among independent agencies now losing its status. Accenture last week picked up digital marketing agency MXM from Meredith as the media company looks to shed weight after its purchase of Time Inc.
For its part, WPP was initially dismissive of consultancies. Now, the entrance of Infosys has added another dimension as the holding company has watched its assets in PR and branding consolidate in the past few months.