Dentsu Aegis acquires Pune’s Sokrati; unveils Merkle India

BENGALURU: Dentsu Aegis Network has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sokrati, Pune-based data-driven performance marketing and analytics agency, launching Merkle in the country – the first launch of the global data-driven performance marketing agency in the Asia Pacific region.

Post-acquisition, Sokrati will be rebranded as Merkle | Sokrati, further scaling Dentsu Aegis India’s data and performance marketing offering.

Founded in 2009, Sokrati is headquartered in Pune and employs a staff of 120 digital marketing professionals. The company develops its integrated marketing offering with the help of data analytics, CRM based marketing and the integration of offline data and hyperlocal marketing, with a focus on the automotive, telecommunications and banking and financial services sectors.

It offers digital and performance marketing with specialization in e-commerce, with service lines encompassing search and performance, social, retargeting, display and video production, and product ads.

Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, said, “India is the fastest growing large economy in the world. It is on track for 400 million smartphone users, making it second only to China, and has emerged as a major e-commerce market. Sokrati’s strength in mobile, e-commerce, data, analytics and performance media provides an ideal basis from which to launch Merkle in India as we develop the roll-out plan for Asia Pacific. We will develop the unique M1 addressable media platform for India as a next step.”

Ashish Bhasin, Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia, said, “With Sokrati on board, we will now be more than twice the size of any of our competitors in search and performance. Out of 3,500 staff in India, about 1,500 will be digital professionals, and over 35% of our revenue – a market-leading statistic – will come from digital.”

Over the past four years, Sokrati was consecutively ranked Deloitte’s top 50 Technology Companies in India. In addition, it has won Google India awards, including Best Quality Accounts and Largest Increase in Overall Revenue, consecutively in 2014, 2015 and 2016.