Accenture purchases digital ventures consultancy Bow & Arrow
Global professional services firm Accenture has bolstered its ability to help communications, media and technology companies tap new revenue opportunities. The purchase of UK origin digital consultancy Bow & Arrow will boost Accenture’s ability to guide clients from strategy to execution in new ventures.
With 492,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Accenture Interactive is the firm’s brand aimed at helping the world’s leading brands transform their customer experiences across the entire customer journey. Through connected offerings in design, marketing, content and commerce, Accenture Interactive creates new ways for clients to survive and thrive in what has long-since become an experience-led economy.
As Accenture looks to further strengthen its Interactive label – which was recently named the world’s largest digital agency in the latest Ad Age Agency Report for the fourth year in a row – it has turned once again to merger and acquisition activity.
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. Now it has continued this tried-and-tested approach, with the purchase of UK consultancy Bow & Arrow.
Bow & Arrow CEO and Founder, Ben Slater, said, "We work with clients when there is an urgent need for fast growth outside of their core business, but they don’t know what to do next. Working with Accenture Interactive dramatically increases our capacity to provide game-changing implementation too for these clients.”
Launched in 2009, Bow & Arrow focuses primarily on supporting a disruption and innovation agenda for clients. The consultancy works with clients across a variety of industries, with a particular focus on communications, media and technology, fanning out into cross-functional ‘start-up’ teams, which combine strategists with commercial, research, creative thinking and analytical skills. This means Bow & Arrow has particularly been able to tap into the emerging business category of “white space” identification – finding opportunities for businesses to grow in new market sectors and to offer new experiences.
The acquisition is intended to strengthen Accenture Interactive’s ability to reinvent experiences for communications, media and technology companies. This will help clients seize upon new market and customer opportunities and diversify their revenue streams.
Lisa De Bonis, Communications, Media & Technology lead at Accenture Interactive, remarked, “Real innovation is not about building something amazing in isolation, but about value – which comes when you can scale something new for your whole business or all of your customers. Bow & Arrow is built on strong people, with specialist skills, and a collaborative approach that makes it an ideal addition to Accenture.”
The deal comes two weeks after Accenture acquired London-based innovation consultancy Happen.
