What you need to know:

• Outside of specialist niches, established independent agencies can no longer count on their eventual acquisition by multinational advertising networks.
• Yet it's not for lack of money – it's just in different buyers' hands. According to recent research from SI Partners, 75 per cent of all PE investment in digital and marketing services has occurred in the last five years. The firm’s London-based lead Tristan Rice says that the “dry powder” available to PE-backed acquirers post-Covid created a fluid transaction market with bigger payouts and shorter deal periods with which the holding companies could not compete.
• But the major holdcos might be gearing up to make a return to the M&A market – globally, Omnicom this year completed the biggest deal in its history, dropping $830m on commerce outfit flywheel.
• Publicis as set aside up to €800m (A$1.3bn) for acquisitions in 2024.
• The question is, what are they buying? The answer is usually 'follow the money': Customer experience (CX), martech and performance media are where brands are investing and therefore where holdcos are likewise, and in some cases belatedly, aiming to buy.
• Plus, geographic opportunities remain: Global acquirers, particularly private equity-backed players, seemingly still seeing value in Australian agencies' proximity to the APAC market, with warm interest for those that have a proven ability to internationalise.
• On the sell-side, the promise of international scale is also a draw for indie agencies and was a key factor in the sales of both Sparro and Sling & Stone to their global acquirers.
• Former STW COO turned consultant Chris Savage thinks creative agencies acquisitions are unlikely to return, be sees opportunity for tech, “new age media agencies”, retail media, experiential and earned-first creative players.

Ask almost any local agency executive and they’ll tell you that the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) landscape is not what it used to be. Deals are far and few between.

It’s a stark contrast from the relatively recent past, when founders of successful independent agencies could bank on their future acquisition by one of the big six holding companies (holdcos), and the big pay day that came with it after putting up with being told what to do for two years.

The holdcos would not exist in their current form without voracious M&A. It’s how Sir Martin Sorrel built WPP into a global advertising behemoth, adopting a similar strategy – though structuring those deals differently – to grow  S4 Capital. Neither would the big IT services firms now dominating marketing services, such as Accenture Song, Deloitte digital and to a lesser degree PwC and Capgemini.

But the traditional ad holdcos are buying much less. A skim through the last ten years of acquisitions across the key players in the marketing services space – notable buys are listed at the bottom of this story – shows that M&A has slowed significantly. There’s also been a distinct shift in what multinational groups are willing to invest in – unsurprisingly it all skews digital.

Those still buying are eyeing specialist capability. Locally Brainlabs, Labelium and Accenture are the acquirers, sweeping up Sparro, RyanCap and The Lumery between them.

They’re part of the cohort of private equity (PE) backed firms that have been spending big to get in on the increasingly disrupted marketing services sector, if not for the long haul. Experts say they’re tapping an opportunity to scale up mid-sized indie shops and offload to the next buyer within a couple of years, at a bigger price point.

But the tides of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the marketing space are continually changing, and PE isn’t the only factor to have transformed the acquisition pipeline.

PE reshapes M&A

Private equity’s growing role in the marketing services industry has become particularly evident in recent years. A sharp VC crunch in 2022 put the brakes on ad funded start-ups and dealmaking alike, with traditional ad holdcos likewise pulling back amid uncertainty.

Nevertheless, some 75 per cent of all PE investment into digital and marketing services are estimated to have occurred since 2019, according to the Private Equity Insights report published in March by global M&A advisory firm SI Partners.

SI Partner’s London-based lead Tristan Rice says the excess of “dry powder” available to PE in the post-Covid era – tech market pullback notwithstanding – created a fluid transaction market. That, he says, made way for a new deal structure with bigger bucks upfront and a shorter earn out period – something with which the more established advertising groups couldn’t compete.

“So suddenly, when private equity is paying maybe twice as much as someone like WPP in the first tranche, then that kind of makes people sit up and engage. So that fuelled more transactions.”

Senior executives at some of Australia’s biggest multinational advertising groups agree that PE has played a significant role in limiting their ability to get deals across the line. While PE-backed firms were dishing out bigger and better deals, the inconsistency of revenues as clients pulled back on marketing spend meant advertising groups weren’t prepared to pay what indie founders were asking.

PE aside, there is also sentiment that the short-termism of the advertising industry and “relentless” pursuit of quarterly results to drive shareholder value has significantly impacted holding companies’ tolerance to absorb the costs of an acquisition if it might impact short-term results.

Nonetheless, the lull in local acquisitions by multinational agency groups in recent years has not come without its exceptions. Two years ago WPP snapped up Australian marketing technology firm Bower House Digital, integrating the then five-year old digital experience shop into the global Ogilvy network.

At the time, Bower House Digital’s headcount of 80 and blue-chip clientele including Aesop, Bunnings, Bupa, Target and Myer, lent itself well to WPP’s global “M&A approach” of building out its “existing digital experience capabilities” to compete with consultancies, per the network’s announcement.

A year prior, Publicis Groupe reportedly paid $205 million for Australian retail media platform Citrus Ad, with CEO Arthur Sadoun positioning the investment as one that would give Publicis “a strong competitive advantage in a channel that by 2025 should surpass traditional TV spend”. (Citrus Ad founders Brand Moran and Nick Paech did their two years for the holdco and exited last June, now running their own start-up advisory)

Holdcos returning to M&A?

Though economic uncertainty – and global bosses – continue to place a Damoclean sword at the heads of agency leaders, SI Partner’s Rice reckons the M&A landscape is in for another change.

He says that from where he sits globally, the market is shifting again as a result of tightening money markets. Now, AI investments aside, PE is a little more “circumspect” about where they put their money, often looking to buckle down and see out the consolidation of new assets so they can offload to bigger players.

But with some PE players pulling back, there door has re-opened for traditional advertising groups to return to the M&A market and make up for lost time – at least from a global perspective.

Publicis has reportedly earmarked €700m-€800m for acquisitions in 2024, specifically within “data, tech, commerce and AI”. WPP last year made a bevy of specialist acquisitions in North America and Europe spanning communications, sonic branding, influencer marketing and digital transformation. Then there’s Omnicom, which earlier this year closed on its biggest ever deal, dropping US$835 million for Ascential’s digital commerce arm, Flywheel – a “really important” move for the holdco’s ambition, per Madison and Wall’s Brian Wieser.

Wieser thinks the large ad networks must be more ambitious in the face of sustained investment firepower from the big IT consulting firms taking a greater share of their traditional business.

Speaking to Mi3 in February Wieser said that holdcos are now feeling the effects of lack of investment in the years prior to the pandemic: “They were basically sending capital back to shareholders rather than reinvesting in the business ... Should it be a shock that if you disinvest, you fail to grow?”. 

Hence he says the “big number” from Publicis in terms of planned investment should not be an outlier.

“If you want to see a vibrant agency sector from the larger holding companies, there needs to be more of that. Nobody says it needs to be the large holding companies that have a monopoly on growth. But it is safe to say that if you invest in an agency business, you will see growth.”

SI Partners' Rice agrees. He says the low level of investment in recent years has left agency groups playing catchup. “Being out of the market for any period of time for those guys can be quite damaging in terms of making sure they have a full and contemporary offering that’s fit for purpose in a very dynamic marketplace.”

His colleague, SI Partners' APAC lead Alyssiah Tsui says multinationals are now returning to the M&A market with "pent-up demand" likely to spur dealmaking. The blocker is a "gap in valuations between people wanting to buy and what business owners want to be paid for that business".

But that may be set to change. After a tough 2023, Tsui says a number of independent agencies have done the groundwork to bring their profitably back to the required level – at least 18 per cent EBIDTA – to fetch an evaluation that they can accept.

“We think 2024 is going to be the year where a lot of the deals that should have [previously] been done will come through – they will meet in the middle around that valuation.”

Specialisation sells

While an independent with a good client list may prove tempting at the right price, current appetite for 'generalist' or traditional agencies is weak, especially as holding companies are busy merging their own brands and rethinking resources as AI stalks just about every digital industry.

In the main, acquisitions are typically driven by either strategic geographic expansion, or the need to fill a capability gap. With most marketing services acquirers having set up a local footholds, investment is increasingly sitting within the latter category, i.e. specialist or bust.

But with limited big buyers, larger independents are finding opportunity. Independent agency Bastion, for example, recently acquired digital creative shop AnalogFolk. CEO Jack Watts said the "particularly muted" market due to the "fundamental absence" of buying holdcos may be the shape of things to come locally.

“The tried-and-true trope of getting out of a multinational network, starting an independent agency and selling it back probably to that same multinational no longer exists,” he told Mi3.

But appetite remains for deeper specialities – research firms in recent years have attracted premiums, with Accenture paying a reported $130m for Fiftyfive5 16 months ago. Likewise martech capability is in demand – Accenture bought The Lumery last month – as brands spend increasing amounts on customer experience and digital transformation and less on traditional upper funnel media. 

As well as a local footprint aspect, RyanCap’s November acquisition by Labelium also had a specialist element, with the deal encompassing the company’s performance media brand, Ryvalmedia, along with tech and customer data specialist, Foxcatcher. Same goes for Sparro – a performance media play scooped up by a private equity backed digital marketing group.

Gateway to APAC

Beyond capabilities, Australian indies looking to sell are still, in some cases, benefitted by their geography and the promise of ‘foothold’ in the Asia Pacific (APAC) market.

According to SI Partner’s Australian director, Julia Vargiu, around 20 per cent of global acquirers have plans to invest in Australia, with interest especially hot for local agencies that have already entered APAC. 

“There’s a lot of one-office agencies that could be quite big, or they might have Sydney and Melbourne, but anyone that's going into Southeast Asia is so much more attractive, because it means that their business isn't just unique to Australia – it can internationalise,” says Vargiu.

While APAC might be the end-goal for most global investors, an Australian launchpad makes for an easy transition, with culture, language, and business practices more akin to that of Western acquirers.

Along with capability, Vargiu says scale, talent, and clients are also obvious but critical line items in acquirers’ search for an asset down under.

“It's a big checklist for the acquirer is to be able to justify the acquisition – they don't always find the skills they want.”

She says that’s contributed to the “pent up demand” SI Partners is experiencing, with many PE and traditional acquirers forced to compromise to keep things moving.  

The lack of quality assets available for acquisition, she says, has "led to higher valuations of the few businesses that are doing well".

Indie founders chasing global scale

The offer of a global acquisition is especially sweet for Australian indie founders with their own goals of international expansion that they haven’t quite managed to get off the ground.

Sparro, a specialist digital shop that grew to be one of Australia's largest specialist independents, has not been short of local offers over the years, though few met its valuation. Ultimately though co-founder Cameron Bryant told Mi3 that selling was naturally a “quicker way to grow”, especially internationally. He says the other option was to continue the acquisition path Sparro had started on back in 2021, when it bought social-first creative agency Jack Nimble.

Founded in 2013 by Bryant and his brother, Morris Bryant, Sparro had grown to a headcount of 112 and annual revenues of $29 million via circa $200m in client media spend prior to selling to UK-founded Brainlabs in January.

The newly dubbed ‘Sparro by Brainlabs’ will eventually become fully absorbed into the Brainlabs brand, taking parent headcount close to 1,100 globally.

Brainlabs CEO Daniel Gilbert aims to take on the global holdcos – or provide a reasonably scaled alternative – combining creative and media, performance and brand. He's not unduly concerned about cyclical headwinds.

“It's a much more strategic view than [worrying about] 'is there a recession in the next year kind of thing',” says Gilbert. “There’s billions of ad spend that goes through those groups and they’re crying out for an alternative.”

PR and comms firm Sling & Stone took a similar path, agreeing an acquisition by VCCP in 2021. Founder Vuki Vujasinovic, who notably hasn't done the two year earn-out and exit, says the agency has seen roughly 50 per cent growth post-acquisition.

Having been “bootstrapped and independent” for the 12 years prior to sale, Vujasinovic says the public relations business had been at a crossroads of how to scale.

After trying the DIY method – uprooting and moving to the US for two years to open a Los Angeles office – Vujasinovic was ready for the support of a big group.

“It's pretty ballsy to say: ‘I'm a small startup agency from Australia, and I'm coming on to take on the US market’,” he says. “You get there and it’s gigantic – there’s a lot of opportunity, but a lot of competition too." Plus, you have to build up relationships and networks, fiercely guarded by rivals, from scratch. Having tried that approach, the obvious solution, he says, is to become part of a bigger agency that can help you to “build something on a global scale”.

Changed permanently?

While the original holdco buyout route appears closed off in the Australian market, some suggest M&A potential is still on the table for local indies that are prepared to evolve.

Chris Savage, a business advisor and former COO at STW (founded by indy disruptors of their day John Singleton and Russell Tate), says the industry is “going through fundamental structural change” that has changed the dynamics of M&A for good.

“Buyers are being much more cautious about the sort of capabilities that they buy,” says Savage. “It is very future-focused in terms of specialised assets, or its planning a gap in existing capability that is non-negotiable – right now that’s CX, and to a lesser degree, media.”

Though acquisitions continue to tick over, he’s wary of suggestions by some deal advisors that the current level of deal activity is “robust”. “I believe this is more driven by their desire to sign on big retainer fees per month and to go out there and start looking for deals than it is necessarily that they have a list of buyers ready to pounce.”

He has also suggested that some of the mergers between independents of late have been out of necessity: "dying agencies being absorbed by stronger firms" with "little money changing hands."

Despite that, Savage is optimistic about the longer-term future of M&A in the local market – at least parts of it.

“I think M&A will come back, but it will be different,” he says. “I don’t believe there will be big demand for creative agencies – and there's no surprise there.”

As Savage sees it, tech, “new age media agencies”, retail media and experiential will take centre stage in the next wave of M&A – he’s also optimistic that earned-first creative agencies will draw their fair share of interest, with some of Australia's major banks, retailers, telcos and utilities pushing hard in that direction.

He says there exceptions to the rule on creative and full-service agency acquisitions, predicting the moment will come for the “jewels in the Australian agency crown” – the few standouts with big name clients and reputations for high calibre work that aren't already network-owned.

“I'd say at some point, when the time's right, buyers are going look at those because they are leaders, they are differentiated and they are really, really great businesses.”

In the meantime, there's always the prospect of wholly brand-owned agencies. But that's another story.

Deals of the last decade

WPP

January 2014: Digital media specialist plista (Germany)

February 2014: Creative digital agency Lemon Sky (Poland)

February 2014: Programmatic media specialist Bannerconnect (Netherlands)

September 2014: Digital agency Bullseye (ANZ)

April 2014: Creative digital agency X-PRIME (France)

March 2014: Digital creative agency Rice5 (Hong Kong)

May 2014: B2B marketing agency dnx (UK)

May 2014: Full-service agency The Volcano Group (South Africa)

May 2014: Digital marketing agency Quirk (South Africa)

May 2014: Digital agency Twist Image (Canada)

June 2014: Full-service agency Circus (Peru)

June 2014: Creative agency The Hardy Boys (South Africa)

September 2014: Eccomerce agency Neoworks (UK)

September 2014: Digital agency Try (Brazil)

December 2014: Digital agency Clarus (Mexico)

December 2014: Digital agency Heyday (ANZ)

December 2014: Digital creative agency Swift (US)

May 2015: Sports marketing agency Two Circles (UK)

June 2015: Media agency Greenhouse Group (Netherlands)

June 2015: Chemistry Media (ANZ)

August 2015: Digital agency Webling Interactive (ANZ)

November 2015: Digital media agency Essence (UK)

November 2015: Motion design studio ManvsMachine (UK)

December 2015: Programmatic marketing company The Exchange Lab (UK)

December 2015: CRM specialist Cacto (Mexico)

January 2016: Creative digital agency Vinyl-l (South Korea)

January 2016: Digital agency Conrad Caine GmbH (Germany)

February 2016: Digital agency 3yz (Brazil)

March 2016: Digital agency Potato (UK)

April 2016: Merger with STW – The Brand Agency, Designworks, The White Agency, Sibl’ng, Cannings, Tongue, Ikon and others (ANZ)

April 2016: Design agency dBOD (Netherlands)

June 2016: Brand activation agency ePromode (Malaysia)

July 2016: Creative agency Famous (Belgium)

July 2016: Social marketing agency Easycom Group (China)

August 2016: Digital agency iStrategyLabs (US)

August 2016: WANDA Digital (Turkey)

October 2016: Triad Retail Media (US)

December 2016: Digital agency Code (UK)

December 2016: Ecommerce consultancy Eperium (Netherlands)

December 2016: Healthcare and consumer agency Tank (Canada)

January 2017: Digital agency Pmweb (Brazil)

February 2017: Brand and CX agency Designworks (ANZ)

February 2017: VR company subversive (US)

March 2017: Digital transformation company 3Ti Solutions (China)

March 2017: Creative agency Bruketa&Zinic (Croatia)

May 2017: Ecommerce consultancy Marketplace Ignition (US)

May 2017: Digital content producer 88rsing (US)

June 2017: Digital transformation consultancy The Cocktail (Spain)

July 2017: Creative agency thjnk AG (Germany)

July 2017: Digital agency Sensio (France)

July 2017: VR/AR company Within Unlimited (US)

August 2017: Digital agency hug (Dubai)

August 2017: Brand design agency Design Bridge (UK)

August 2017: Majority stake in digital agency DIS/PLAY (Denmark)

September 2017: Majority stake in Salesforce consultancy Pierry (US)

October 2017: Majority stake in ecommerce agency Enext (Brazil)

December 2017: Majority stake in digital consultancy ARBA (Hong Kong)

January 2018: Creative agency BAR (Portugal)

August 2018: Ecommerce agency Gorilla Group (US)

September 2018: Ecommerce agency 2Sales (Luxembourg)

January 2020: Martech company Dominion (ANZ)

February 2020: Martech consutancy XumaK (US)

March 2020: Data science firm Sandtable (UK)

August 2020: Creative agency Meerkats (ANZ)

February 2021: Digital innovation and software company DTI Digital (Brazil)

March 2021: Mobile commerce agency NN4M (UK)

August 2021: AI technology company Satalia (UK)

November 2021: Cloud Commerce Group (UK)

December 2021: Majority stake in branding and design agency Made Thought (UK)

February 2022: Influencer marketing agency Village Marketing (US)

June 2022: Marketing technology agency Bower House Digital (ANZ)

July 2022: ecommerce consultancy Corebiz (Latin America)

September 2022: ecommerce consultancy Newcraft (Netherlands)

September 2022: Corporate communications agency JeffreyGroup (Latin America)

October 2022: Branding agency Passport (US)

December 2022: Commerce agency Diff (Canada)

January 2023: Digital transformation agency Fenom Digital (US)

March 2023: Healthcare agency 3K Communication (Germany)

March 2023: Influencer marketing agency Goat (UK)

March 2023: Influencer marketing agency Obviously (US)

April 2023: Sonic branding agency amp (Germany)

June 2023: Minority stake in multicultural talent agency Majority (US)

November 2023: Longview Communications and Public Affairs (Canada)

February 2024: Minority stake in OH-SO Digital (Germany)

 

Dentsu

May 2014: Full-service agency MKTG INC (US)

December 2014: Digital creative agency SPOKE (Canada)

December 2014: Digital marketing agency Rockett Interactive (US)

February 2015: Creative agency BWM Group (ANZ)

February 2015: Digital creative agency Soap Creative (ANZ)

May 2015: Technology agency Vivid Group (ANZ)

December 2015: Creative agency SAME SAME but different (France)

January 2016: Full-service agency Grip (Canada)

February 2016: Creative agency ACHTUNG! (Netherlands)

March 2016: Full-service agency Flock Advertising (Mexico)

September 2016: Content marketing agency Avid Media (UK)

September 2016: Digital experience agency WiTH Collective (ANZ)

November 2016: Multicultural marketing agency Gravity Media (US)

November 2016: Ecommerce agency Bluecom (APAC)

2016: Digital marketing agency Search Factory (ANZ)

May 2017: Customer experience agency Accordant (ANZ)

August 2017: Digital agency Little Giant (ANZ)

December 2017: B2B digital media agency dwa (US)

December 2017: Digital and social agency Swirl (US)

January 2018: Customer experience agency HelloWorld (US)

August 2018: Salesforce specialist Amicus Digital (ANZ)

January 2019: Customer experience agency Filter (US)

February 2019: Creative agency BJL (UK)

February 2019: Creative agency Communica+A (Spain)

July 2019: Technology consultancy Davanti (ANZ)

August 2019: Direct marketing agency MuteSix (US)

February 2020: Performance media agency Media Storm (US)

March 2023: Digital marketing group Tag Worldwide (UK)

 

Havas

May 2014: Digital agency Work Club (UK)

December 2014: Formula PR (US)

December 2015: Digital communications agency Fullsix (France)

December 2015: Healthcare marketing specialist Gemini Healthcare (US)

October 2016: Entertainment media specialist Target Media (UK)

November 2016: Full-service agency Lemz (Netherlands)

March 2017: Shopper marketing agency BD Australia (ANZ)

March 2017: Creative agency Mr Smith (ANZ)

September 2018: Multicultural marketing agency Republica (US)

June 2019: Gaming marketing agency Battery (US)

September 2019: Creative agency Buzzman (France)

March 2020: Public affairs consultancy Cicero (UK)

August 2020: Media agency Hyland (ANZ)

September 2020: Creative agency Camp + King (US)

January 2022: Public relations agency Tinkle (Spain/Portugal)

February 2022: Digital experience agency Inviqa (UK)

March 2022: Performance marketing agency Frontier Australia (ANZ)

April 2022: Digital agency Search Laboratory (UK)

September 2022: Ecommerce agency Expert Edge (UK)

November 2022: Health communications agency Bastion Brands (ANZ)

January 2023: Social media agency HRZN (Germany)

April 2023: Performance media agency Noise Digital (Canada)

September 2023: Australian Public Affairs [APA] (ANZ)

November 2023: PR Pundit (India)

July 2023: Uncommon Creative Studio (UK)

March 2024: Social media agency Wilderness (UK)

 

Publicis

January 2014: Full-service agency Law & Kenneth (India)

March 2014: Data-driven digital agency Hawkeye (US)

July 2014: Ecommerce firm Crown Partners (US)

July 2014: Sustainability strategy ad communications consultancy (UK

September 2014: Design and technology firm Nurun (Canada)

September 2014: Design and branding agency Duckworth (UK/US)

October 2014: Programmatic buying platform RUN (US)

October 2014: Adobe specialist 3|Share (US)

November 2014: Digital marketing company Sapient (US)

January 2015: Digital marketing agency Monkees (France)

February 2015: News publisher Relaxnews (France)

June 2015: Match Media (ANZ)

August 2015: Adobe data analytics consultancy 2DataFisg (ANZ)

February 2016: Customer experience agency Mercer Bell (ANZ)

March 2016 Salesforce specialist Vertiba (US)

January 2018: Digital creative agency One Digital (Brazil)

October 2018: IT consultancy Xebia (France)

November 2018: Affiliate marketing agency VIVnetworks (Germany)

February 2019: Data marketing firm Soft Computing (France)

April 2019: Data business Epsilon (US)

August 2019: Media agency MBM (ANZ)

August 2019: Customer experience agency Affinity ID (ANZ)

August 2019: Full-service agency Rauxa (US)

July 2017: Public relations agency The Herd Agency (ANZ)

March 2020: Management consultancy Third Horizon (ANZ)

July 2021: SaaS retail media platform CirtusAd (ANZ)

January 2022: Software engineering company Tremend (Romania)

May 2022: SaaS ecommerce platform Profitero (Ireland)

February 2023: Salesforce consultancy Tquila (ANZ)

March 2024: Supply chain consultancy Spinnaker SCA (US)

 

IPG

September 2014: Social media agency PromoQube (Turkey)

February 2016: App developer Mubaloo (UK)

September 2016: Search agency Stickyeyes (UK)

April 2017: Programmatic media agency and digital consultancy Virta (Finland)

July 2018: Database marketing company Acxiom (US)

April 2022: AR experience agency The Famous Group (US)

October 2022: Salesforce specialist RafterOne (US)

 

Omnicom

November 2015: Advertising group Grupo ABC (Brazil)

August 2018: Martech specialist Levo Digital (ANZ)

June 2020: Media agency Max & Partners (ANZ)

April 2021: Digital transformation company Areteans (India)

October 2021: Performance media agency Jump 450 (US)

March 2022: Digital transformation and commerce agency TA Digital (US)

September 2022: Brand experience agency dotdotdash (US)

April 2023: Sports creative agency Dark Horses (UK)

July 2023: Financial services marketing firm Ptarmigan Media (US)

July 2023: Creative agency Grabarz & Partner (Germany)

July 2023: Retail media agencies Outpromo and Global Shopper (Brazil)

September 2023: Public affairs agencies PLUS Communications and FP1 Strategies (US)

January 2024: Ecommerce platform Flywheel Digital (UK)

 

Accenture

February 2015: Digital agency Reactive Media (ANZ)

June 2015: Digital content/commerce consultancy Brightstep (Sweden)

July 2015: Group of independent digital agencies Pacific Link (Hong Kong)

July 2015: Tech design studio Chaotic Moon (US)

August 2015: Digital agency AD.Dialeto (Brazil)

June 2016: management and digital consultancy dgroup (Germany)

July 2016: Digital agency IMJ (Japan)

July 2016: Digital agency Mobgen (Netherlands)

November 2016: Creative agency Karmarama (UK)

February 2017: Digital agency SinnerSchrader (Germany) 

April 2017: Communications agency Kunstmaan (Belgium)

May 2017: Ecommerce specialist Media Hive (US)

May 2017: Creative and design agencies The Monkeys and Maud (ANZ)

June 2017: Mobile design and development agency Intrepid (US)

July 2017: Digital optimization provider Clearhead (US)

August 2017: Marketing agency Wire Stone (US)

September 2017: Design agency Matter (US)

October 2017: Digital commerce agency Altima (France)

February 2018: Creative agency Rothco (Ireland)

January 2018: CGI and 3D producer Mackevision (Germany)

March 2018: Digital agency MXM (US)

July 2018: Digital agency HO Communication (China)

November 2018: CRM specialist Kaplan (Sweden)

November 2018: Digital agency Kolle Rebbe (Germany)

December 2018: Branded content specialist New Content (Brazil)

December 2018: adtech/digital media services company Adaptly (US)

December 2018: Cloud implementation service provider PrimeQ (ANZ)

March 2019: Digital agency Storm Digital (Netherlands)

March 2019: Creative agency Hjaltelin Stahl (Denmark)

April 2019: Creative agency Droga5 (US)

April 2019: Brand communications agency Shackleton (Spain)

August 2019: Data and analytics firm Analytics8 (ANZ)

September 2019: Design and innovation firm INSITUM (US)

October 2019: Digital ventures consultancy Bow & Arrow (UK)

November 2019: Data marketing firm Sutter Mills (France)

May 2021: Cloud technology consultancy Industrie&Co (ANZ)

April 2020: AWS consultancy Gekko (France)

February 2020: Data consultancy AlphaBeta Advisors (ANZ)

February 2020: Systems Applications and Products [SAP] firm Icon Integration (ANZ)

August 2020: Content production agency CreativeDrive (US)

October 2020: SAP firm Zag (ANZ)

November 2020: Cloud migration services provider Olikka (ANZ)

February 2021: SAP partner Edenhouse (UK)

November 2021: AI and analytics firm BRIDGEi2i (India)

November 2021: Creative agency King James Group (South Africa)

December 2021: Ecommerce customer experience agency Tambourine (Japan)

January 2022: Digital product agency Work & Co (US)

August 2022: Commerce agency The Stable (US)

September 2022: Brand and experience agency Romp (Indonesia)

December 2022: Customer insights advisory Fiftyfive5 (ANZ)

June 2023: SAP firm Bourne Digital (ANZ)

November 2023: Cloud technology consultancy Solnet (ANZ)

December 2023: Data consultancy Redkite (UK)

December 2023: Creative and digital experience agency Rabbit’s Tale (Thailand)

February 2024: Digital experience and data company Mindcurv (Germany)

February 2024: Martech platform Jixie (Singapore)

March 2024: The Lumery (ANZ)

 

Deloitte

January 2012: Mobile app maker Ubermind (US)

October 2013: Digital agency Banyan Tree (US)

February 2015: Creative agency heat (US)

May 2015: Digital agency Mobiento (Sweden)

June 2016: UX/CX consultancy Uselab (Poland)

October 2016: Salesforce specialist Cinder Agency (ANZ)

June 2017: Design consultancy Market Gravity (UK)

February 2017: Digital marketing and analytics firm Cornerstone Group (Canada)

August 2017: Creative agency Acne (Sweden)

February 2018: Interactive marketing agency Brandfirst (Belgium)

June 2018: Cloud-based CRM firm Third Wave Consulting (Canada)

September 2018: buys AI-driven audience platform business from Magnetic Media (US)

November 2018: marketing automation firm CloudinIT (ANZ)

May 2019: Digital agency Pervorm (Netherlands)

February 2022: Digital experience consultancies Blended Digital, New Republique and Venntifact (ANZ)

 

EY

July 2015: Cross platform identity management firm Microft

August 2015: Digital consultancy Seren (UK)

October 2015: Big data and analytics specialist Bluestone Consulting 

November 2015: Digital solutions provider Northpoint Digital (US)

December 2015: Digital design studio Intuitive Company (US)

August 2016: Digital analytics specialist Society Consulting (US)

November 2017: Mobile app developer Applix (Italy)

January 2018: Digital design firm Citizen (US)

February 2018: Digital marketing agency ENTG (Croatia)

March 2018: CRM specialist Sonoma partners

November 2018: Digital consultancy Adelphi Digital (ANZ)

December 2018: User experience design firm Fortune Cookie UX Design (India)

March 2020: Design and innovation firm Doberman (Sweden)

December 2021: Content creation studio Madras (India)

April 2022: Customer experience consultancy Black Dot (ANZ)

November 2022: Data analytics firm Bridge Business Consulting (ANZ)

July 2023: Digital agency The Collective (Dubai)

 

PwC

2013: Intunity

March 2014: User experience firm Optimal Experience

February 2014: User experience specialists Stamford Interactive (ANZ)

February 2016: Design and creative agency Fluid (Hong Kong)

May 2017: Design agency Pond (Sweden)

August 2017: Minority stake in Thinkerbell (ANZ) – bought back in 2023

February 2019: Salesforce consultancy Be Intelligent (ANZ)

October 2021: SaaS firm MindMatter (ANZ)

 

Other local deals

February 2018: Enero acquires Orchard Marketing (ANZ)

February 2020: Ben Lilley buys IPG’s McCann Australia

July 2020: S4 Capital acquires Lens 10 (ANZ)

June 2021: Attivo Group acquires IPG’s 303 MullenLowe Australia, takes minority stake in Mediacom Australia

September 2021: VCCP acquires Sling & Stone (ANZ)

August 2022: Tag acquires L&A Social (ANZ)

July 2022: Enero acquires B2B specialists ROIDNA and GetIt (US, APAC)

March 2023: Criteo acquires Brandcrush (ANZ)

November 2023: Labelium Group acquires RyanCap (ANZ)

January 2024: Attivo Group acquires IPG’s Deutsch New York and Hill Holiday (US)

January 2024: Brainlabs acquires Sparro (ANZ)