BCG Digital Ventures buys consulting firm S&C
Global consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has bought Strategic & Creative (S&C), a digital design firm based in Sydney, Australia. Twenty consultants will join BCG, and be integrated into its ‘Digital Ventures’ business unit. Financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed.
S&C was founded in 2008 by Michael Priddis, and has since grown to a leading design firm in Australia. The fast-growing company – in 2013 S&C was recognised by BRW magazine as the 19th fastest growing company in Australia – is based in Sydney and consists of roughly 20 consultants, data marketeers and designers.
For The Boston Consulting Group, the digital landscape is one of its key strategic focus areas for the coming years. Following the preferences of several competitors*, BCG earlier this year decided to launch a separate brand – dubbed ‘BCG Digital Ventures’ – for its digital service offerings. The unit supports clients with, among others, digital product innovation, development and commercialisation. BCG Digital Ventures was initially setup in the US, run mainly from offices Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston. Following a large influx of Booz Digital** consultants in February, the team in the US and Europe ramped up to approximately 300 digital specialists.
To boost its presence in Asia-Pacific, BCG has decided to acquire S&C. The new unit will serve as the founding team of BCG Digital Ventures Asia and as a launch pad for further expansion on rest of the continent. “We are excited that S&C is now part of the Digital Ventures and BCG team, further accelerating the expansion of our digital innovation platform in Asia,” says Jeff Schumacher, CEO of BCG Digital Ventures and a former consultant of Accenture, Deloitte, IBM and McKinsey & Company.
BCG aims to turn Sydney into an innovation centre for Asia to match Silicon Valley in the US. The company sees opportunities in the region, particularly in markets like China, which already has four of the world’s top 20 listed internet companies, including Tencent and Baidu. “Having a team of S&C’s caliber as part of Digital Ventures in Sydney will augment our impact in Australia and accelerate our momentum in Asia-Pacific,” adds Patrick Forth, global leader of BCG’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications practice and a member of the BCG Digital Ventures board.
* For example: Accenture (Accenture Digital), Capco (Capco Digital) and Deloitte (Deloitte Digital).
** Booz Digital was the ‘Digital’ label of Booz & Company. Following the acquisition of Booz & Company by PwC, the consulting firm has been rebranded to Strategy&.
