Think Design Acquired By havas media

Communications network major Havas Group has picked up the majority stake in Think Design, a leading independent user experience consultancy and design studio, for an undisclosed sum as part of its inorganic expansion plans for India.

Acquired By

Seller

Think Design

Buyer

Havas Media

Focus Sector

User Experience and Design Consultancy

The Paris-headquartered company plans a series of acquisitions to increase its Indian workforce to around 1,000 by end-2019 from 300.

“This is the first in the series of acquisitions that are planned and the investments that we are making in India,” Vishnu Mohan, the chief executive for India and South Asia at Havas Group, told ET. “These acquisitions will help us grow almost three times by the end of this year, both in terms of scale and resources that we would have at our disposal within this company.”

Havas has identified companies in the digital, events and activation spaces for acquisition, and would also want to add capabilities of performance marketing and public relations to its growing business.

“Think Design is poised to be among the largest design innovation consultancies in the world and its addition will further strengthen Havas Group’s integrated offering, ensure an agile, seamless and dynamic service to our clients as well as add greater momentum not just to our India operations but to the network, globally,” Mohan said.

Think Design was founded by Deepali Saini, Hari Nallan and Rama Aleti in 2004. The company now has five design centres in India and one in the US — Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Denver — and a team of 125 specialists provide UX vision and design strategy to clients on a global scale to enhance their customer experience.

Think Design’s clients include startups, Fortune 500 companies, government departments and multi-national conglomerates from sectors like banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), healthcare, education, logistics, telecom, media and entertainment. Around 30% of its business comes from overseas markets, primarily North America.

After the takeover, Think Design will become a part of Havas India and Ekino Global, Havas’ digital transformation agency.

“At Ekino, we do what we call the digital transformation, through design and technology. With the acquisition, we are going to connect Think Design’s client portfolio and expertise to our technology capabilities so that Think Design can deliver end-to-end services from design to delivering the digital solution,” said Ekino chief executive Yann Doussot.

Think Design CEO Nallan said the founder trio will continue to work with the company. “We have always believed that collaboration with the right minds can lead to the greatest results. During our conversations with the Havas leadership, we experienced a very strong connection and equally great synergy. We have no doubt that Think Design’s integration into Havas Group will help us become an even stronger, global force to reckon with,” he said.

Havas, which has been lagging behind international and local communication networks like GroupM, IPG Mediabrands, Dentsu Aegis Network and Madison, has become aggressive in India in the last one year. It has appointed Rana Barua and Bobby Pawar as the Group CEO, and chairman and CCO, respectively.

Asked if Havas is a bit late to the party in India, Mohan said that the kind of potential, the kind of growth rates there is in this market, “it is not about missing the bus, we are creating our own bus”.

About Buyer

Havas is one of the world’s largest global communications groups. Founded in 1835 in Paris, the Group employs 20,000 people in more than 100 countries and operates through its three business units covering all communication activities. Havas Group integrated Vivendi in December 2017. Havas Group’s mission is to make a meaningful difference to brands, to businesses and to people. To better anticipate client needs, Havas has adopted a fully integrated model through its 60 Havas Villages around the world. In these Villages, creative, media and healthcare & wellness teams work together, ensuring agility and a seamless experience for clients.
www.havasgroup.com

About seller

Think Design is a design and research agency specializing in user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design, with a focus on data-driven insights. They help businesses across various sectors improve operational efficiency, enhance strategic planning, and gain a competitive edge by creating user-centric products and services.
www.think.design

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