Capgemini Invent buys social impact consultancy Purpose
Social impact consultancy Purpose has agreed to join Capgemini Invent for an undisclosed fee. The added 100 professionals of Purpose will help enhance Capgemini Invent’s creative and sustainability consulting offerings to its global clients.
In late 2018, Capgemini Consulting unified its branding by combining acquired firms LiquidHub, Fahrenheit 212, Idean, Adaptive Lab and Backelite to create Capgemini Invent. The move saw the firm look to provide clarity on what the brand offers clients in terms of digital transformation capabilities, and to create tailored solutions for the changing demands of modern business.
Since then, Capgemini Invent has been working consistently to enhance its growing profile as a provider of holistic consulting services. By the close of 2018, this had seen it grow to 6,000 consultants across 30-plus offices and 10 creative studios, with the acquisition of June 21, a French consulting firm that specialises in digital marketing. Less than a year later the firm had also purchased German advisory group Konexus Consulting.
Now, Capgemini Invent has moved to keep this momentum going with the purchase of social impact consultancy Purpose. The transaction for the New York headquartered company – set to close after customary conditions precedent in the coming weeks – sees Capgemini Invent hope to add a critical dimension to its business transformation strategy offering, as well as new sources of shared value creation.
Capgemini Invent CEO Cyril Garcia said, “Purpose joining Capgemini will bolster the capabilities of our teams that are working closely with senior executives and boards, to envision and build what’s next for their organisation. Placing a positive contribution to society at the core of what they do, rethinking their commitment to sustainable development goals, and committing to strong action on climate change, are the new imperatives for a sustainable business in the coming years.”
Sustainability
A global survey of nearly 30,000 consumers in 35 countries previously found that 62% of customers want companies to take a stand on issues such as sustainability, transparency and fair employment practices. A second study from Accenture Strategy also found that a breach in trust adversely will see a company’s competitiveness take a hit, with the direct impact on future revenue by trust events conservatively standing at $180 billion for 7,000 companies analysed.
In this environment, businesses cannot afford to ignore purpose-led consumption anymore, and there is a heightened demand for consultants who can help businesses transform their operating model to respond to this new need. Founded in New York in 2009, Purpose has built a footprint and reputation for enabling impact across six continents by creating purpose-driven campaigns, with global brands and corporations, major philanthropies, the UN system, and many of the world’s leading civil society organisations. This has seen it launch major initiatives on issues ranging from refugees to international LGBT+ rights.
Purpose’s approach consists of four key components: its Labs that develop new public engagement innovations on the most important issues of the day such as climate change and international development; the agency team which develops social impact strategies, builds campaigns and crafts creative content; innovative technology that underpins its services including measurement and training tools; and finally, a host of methodologies that foster participation and help move people to action. Each of these elements work hand in hand to shape and deliver effective and impactful campaigns.
Purpose’s 100 campaigners, creatives, strategists and technologists will bring their four-pillar approach to Capgemini Invent’s offering in purpose-led business.
Jeremy Heimans, CEO and co-founder of Purpose, commented, “By joining the Capgemini Group, we can truly take Purpose to the world – dramatically growing our scale and impact at a crucial moment for so many of the issues we care about. Capgemini Invent, combined with the wider Group’s scale, offers us access to vast technological capacity, unrivaled data and analytics, and a deep understanding of how to change organisations and business models from the inside out. This opens up extraordinary possibilities for the campaigns that we can create and the global organisations that we can advise and support.”
