News: Havas Group acquires independent digital agency, changes leadership structure

Talent Acquisition

Havas Group acquires independent digital agency, changes leadership structure

The team of 170 people will provide digital experiences and connections to MNCs, local brands and start-ups across strategy, online marketing, website planning and development, data analytics, marketing automation, e-commerce and SEO.
Havas Group acquires independent digital agency, changes leadership structure

Havas Group announced the acquisition of independent digital agency Langoor. Langoor has grown steadily since being founded in 2010 by Ruchir Punjabi, Venugopal Ganganna, Girisha Gowda and Kishore Karumbaiah, and is now present across India, the Middle East and Australia.

The team of 170 people will provide digital experiences and connections to MNCs, local brands and start-ups across strategy, online marketing, website planning and development, data analytics, marketing automation, e-commerce and SEO.

Langoor will be rebranded as Langoor Havas and be led by its co-founder – Venugopal Ganganna – who will take on the newly-created position of Chief Digital Officer, Havas Group India, reporting to Rana Barua – Group CEO, Havas Group India. 

Langoor Havas will have three key focus areas – health, business and vernacular – and will expand these services to markets outside of India in the coming months. 

The leadership structure of the newly acquired company will remain intact with a minor changed. Venugopal Ganganna will continue as the CEO, Kishore Karumbaiah as CCO, and Girisha Gowda as COO/CFO. 

In the additional role, Venugopal Ganganna  will take on the newly-created position of Chief Digital Officer, Havas Group India and he will report into Rana Barua Havas Group CEO, and all other co-founders will report into Venugopal Ganganna.  

When asked the, how the company is making sure that the Culture of Havas will be a fit for the employees of Langoor? The spokesperson said, “The core reason for acquiring was all about the perfect alignment of both cultures the Havas Village culture which brings together creative, media, the strategy is now enhanced now with Langoor's culture of bringing data, creative and technology together.”

Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO Havas Group comments: “Digital business is booming in India and bringing Langoor on board is an important new step to further strengthening our digital skills locally. Through their unique blend of data, creativity and technology, Langoor enables brands to engage their customers meaningfully and drive growth. Earlier this year, we acquired the leader in user experience and digital design in India, Think Design, making Langoor our second acquisition in the country in 2019. The combined expertise of Think Design and Langoor boost Havas’ digital offer in the world’s fastest growing ad market. India continues to be a priority for the Group, we aim to triple our presence there by the end of 2019 and have put in place a solid new management team to lead this expansion.” 

“The acquisition of Langoor complements our aggressive growth strategy that we started last year with the creation of Havas Village India that brought together different disciplines under a unified, client-centric leadership structure. Langoor adds an enviable strength to Havas Group with its distinctive approach of Creative Technologists who challenge marketing every day with their expertise in balancing, data, technology, strategic thinking and the power of creative, said Vishnu Mohan, Chairman & CEO, Havas Group India & South East Asia.

“The Langoor acquisition also demonstrates Havas Group’s commitment to expand its scale and expertise in India with a focus on exponential growth, new business momentum, and building & leading future-ready teams. The acquisition will reinforce our integrated offering and digital expertise in India and complement our existing capabilities,” added Rana Barua, CEO, Havas Group India.

“We pride ourselves in having created an agency focused on digital brand thinking – which is the future. The integration with Havas Group will add scale to the depth of our services and help us to grow even further. This acquisition is an incredible opportunity for Langoor and the team and we are excited to be part of this new journey towards further success,” said Ruchir Punjabi & Venu Ganganna, co-founders of Langoor in a joint statement.

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Topics: Talent Acquisition, #MergersAndAcquisitions

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