Publicis Groupe, the French advertising and public relations company, has acquired two digital media agencies in India, iStrat and MarketGate. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Both iStrat and MarketGate leadership will now report to Nakul Chopra, CEO South Asia for Publicis Worldwide. Publicis Groupe has acquired quite a few digital agencies in India since 2010. In 2010, Publicis Groupe had acquired PR firm 2020 Media, of which social media consulting firm 2020 Social is a part. In April 2012, it acquired digital marketing and web development firm Indigo Consulting and in August 2012, it had acquired performance marketing firm Resultrix. iStrat, founded in 2003, is an agency that provides services such as digital communications, ecommerce store fronts, search engine optimization, social media and rich media. The agency is headquartered in Delhi and employs a team of 50 people. Its clients include Alpha G:Corp (real estate), the Confederation of Indian Industries, Dupont (luxury accessories), Hero Corp (motorcycles), Hindware (kitchen and sanitary appliances), Maruti Suzuki, the NASSCOM software trade association, and Nestlé. Post acquisition, iStrat will be rebranded to Publicis iStrat and will operate as a unit within Publicis Modem, Publicis Worldwide's global digital network. iStrat's founders, Navneet Singh Sahni (CEO) and Sonya Sahni (Head of Marketing), will continue to lead the agency. MarketGate, a strategic business and marketing consulting firm, on the other hand is based in Mumbai and was founded in 2005. It provides services such as business growth planning, marketing strategy, brand positioning, portfolio strategy, brand architecture development, and marketing skills developments. Its clients…
