Accenture Interactive set to merge London agencies in one studio
Accenture Interactive has announced plans to house all of its London agencies in the same office. The firm wants to find a single location for its multitude of acquired creative agencies to be able to “sit together” and foster a coveted holistic approach to marketing services.
Since its launch in 2009, Accenture Interactive has executed a campaign of rapid expansion which has lately been sustained by a huge acquisition drive in the creative sector. Purchases such as Fjord, Karmarama, The Monkeys, SinnerSchrader and most recently Droga5 having kept the company expanding at break-neck speed, while those firms have continued their own impressive growth tracks, adding sustainability to the project as a whole.
According to David Rowland, Interim Chief Executive of Accenture, the performance of Accenture Interactive’s new properties means that the firm’s revenue expansions are not just due to acquisitions then. If that is the case, the firm is now growing largely organically at a rate in excess of 20%, even amid sustained hostility from the advertising industry.
Accenture remains keen not rest on its laurels, however, and one matter in particular remains a key goal for the firm; the integration of its purchases into a cohesive company. According to Accenture’s own research, in fact, while ‘buy over build’ strategies can help companies accelerate change and drive competitive advantage, many UK businesses are struggling to extract the full value of purchases due to their inability to integrate diverse company cultures.
In order to help keep its own house in order in that regard, Accenture Interactive has announced that it will now look to provide a unified space for its staff in the remaining half of 2019. Speaking to advertising industry outlet Campaign, Anatoly Roytman, Senior Director for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, finding such a space is an "important part" of what he planned to focus on "in the next six months."
The news is the latest development in an on-going shift for Accenture Interactive in London. The firm already opened a studio for Fjord and some other key parts of its business in the same building as Karmarama in March 2018 – echoing a broader advertising industry trend where traditional holding groups have also brought their agencies together in the same building. 2017 saw Havas become one of the first to do so, moving its London agencies into a purpose-built office in King’s Cross, while WPP has also recently confirmed it intends to open a single campus for its agencies in Manchester.
Outlining Accenture Interactive’s ambitions, Roytman expanded, "I want to find a space for people to sit together. That is super-important because they generate new ideas if they work together, they sit together, they have fun together. We are doing it in London. London is difficult, but [we’re] trying to find a facility where we can move [all our agencies] into the same building. Given that we grow so much, it's difficult to find space that will accommodate us forever. It sounds silly, but this is very, very important part of what we need to do."
This is something Accenture Interactive claims to have already done successfully in Dublin, Amsterdam and Brazil, as part of its long-term vision for the brand. According to Roytman, the move also comes as a response to client demand, however, with “a big number of clients” asking the firm to provide a “joined-up offer” moving forward.
He argued that a shared location will help deliver that, as it will allow colleagues to see each other’s work and "share without reinventing the wheel", something which will theoretically lead to “technologists working with creators.” Pointing to what can be achieved through a unified space, Roytman called Accenture Interactive’s Dublin studio "fantastic."
