It was the pandemic that delayed the Interpublic Group (IPG)-owned advertising major FCB’s deal to acquire Kinnect, an independent digital-first creative agency. It led to first picking up a minority stake in August 2021 followed by majority control this April. Clearly, it has set up the digital game for FCB, which already has three mainline creative agencies – FCB Ulka, FCB India and FCB Interface – apart from Lodestar, a media specialist agency, FCB Interactive for digital and Cogito Consulting, a brand consulting entity, among others. Globally, IPG is a part of the Big Four – others being WPP, Publicis and Omnicom – and owns FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup and MullenLowe Group.
On the rationale to not go for a complete buyout of Kinnect in one stroke, Rohit Ohri, Chairman & CEO, FCB Group India, says IPG is known for being cautious. “We went about this carefully and now is the time for integration and working together,” he explains. Digital, for a while, has remained the fastest growing component across advertising mediums even on a large base. “Having an integrated offering gives us a huge advantage when it comes to dealing with our clients.” IPG’s revenue for 2022 stood at $11 billion.
Kinnect was set up in 2011 by Rohan Mehta and Chandni Shah. Over time, it has worked with large brands such as Asian Paints, P&G, HDFC Bank and TVS Motor. “From being just a digital entity, we are now a very strong force,” says Shah, who will now be the COO of FCBKinnect, while Mehta will be the CEO. According to Mehta, there is a huge opportunity in the digital world and from a small percentage of client spends (2.5-3 per cent) when they got started over a decade ago, the number has taken off sharply (estimated to be over 25 per cent today). The exact holding of FCB in Kinnect has not been disclosed, though Ohri did say that a complete buyout would take place without specifying a timeline.