MUMBAI: WPP has acquired a majority stake in Roshan Abbas’ brand activation, events and content creation agency Encompass.
Encompass will be aligned with WPP’s ad agency JWT, with founders, Roshan Abbas (managing director) and Sukrit Singh (CEO) remaining in their current positions of leadership to ensure a smooth and rapid transition.
JWT president Michael Maedel said, “The founders, Roshan Abbas and Sukrit Singh have been integral to the phenomenal success of Encompass and will remain in their current positions of leadership to ensure continued success and client satisfaction. JWT has been working with Encompass on several client engagements and this transaction is a natural extension of our established relationship.”
In China, JWT is the leader in marketing activation and this new acquisition extends its leadership in another key growth market.
Encompass was founded in 1996 and now employs over 240 people across India; it has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Singapore. Clients include HSBC, Nokia, GSK, Pepsi, ACCENTURE, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, and Ford, amongst others.
Abbas said, “For over 10 years, we have been focused on bringing brands to life as experiences. We will continue to focus on engaging customers in new and exciting ways but now we will have a world class network to support our growth initiatives.”
Singh added, “Working under the JWT umbrella is a tremendous opportunity to expand our business. We look forward to continuing to support our current client’s needs while also building new business relationships with JWT.”
Encompass uses innovative methods to activate and engage customers in a country with over one billion people. It has built a niche in one-to-one activation by establishing college contact programmes, mall activations, rural events, in-store promotions and mobile road shows.
JWT India CEO Colvyn Harris adds, “At JWT, our mission is to ensure that our clients continue to be market leaders. Encompass, in partnership with us, will ensure our solutions continue to lead the market and bring brand experiences to life. The age of advertising being focused on television, print and radio is declining. We are developing fully integrated campaigns for our clients, including digital and event components. Encompass is an incredibly creative company, both dynamic and results oriented. I am excited to work with the executive team from Encompass.”
