Ogilvy & Mather Buys HK Agency with Data / CX Focus

WPP company Ogilvy & Mather has acquired a majority stake in Hong Kong-based digital consultancy ARBA, whose design and software engineering services focus on sales acceleration and customer experience.

ARBA was founded in 2012 and specializes in digital strategy, with strong expertise in the financial services industry and more than 40 staff. Revenues for the year ending March 2017 were around HKD 17.3m (GBP 1.65m). WPP says the buy enhances Ogilvy's existing capabilities in digital strategy and creative with ARBA's technical and production strengths - including enterprise mobile apps, responsive web and intranet, as well as CRM and predictive analytics.

According to WPP, the buy continues its focus on three key areas which differentiate its offering to clients: technology, data and content. Its roster of wholly owned digital agencies includes AKQA, Blue State Digital, Essence, F.biz, Mirum, Triad Retail Media, VML, POSSIBLE and Wunderman, many of which were involved in its October partnership with customer experience management software company Sitecore.

The Group says its digital revenues were over US$7.5bn in 2016, representing 39% of the total, and as of June 30th this year had reached 41%, coming in range of its five-year target of 40-45%, set in August 2013.

Web sites: www.wpp.com and www.arbaholdings.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.