Japanese advertising agency Dentsu buys digital marketing firm Happy Marketer

Dentsu Aegis Network SEA, part of Japanese advertising group Dentsu Inc., has acquired Singapore-based digital marketing agency Happy Marketer Group.

Established in 2009, Happy Marketer has digital marketing delivery centres in Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Mumbai, with over 40 employees. Some of Happy Marketer’s clients in India include Practo, Urban Ladder, Standard Chartered Bank, and Amity University.

Happy Marketer provides data, analytics, customer-relationship management, performance marketing, marketing technology and customer experience solutions to its clients.

After the acquisition, Happy Marketer’s India offerings will be integrated with Merkle Asia Pacific and the company will be rebranded as Happy Marketer, a Merkle Company. Dentsu had bought a majority stake in US-based digital agency Merkle in 2016. The acquisition is expected to help Merkle scale up its operations across the Southeast Asia region.

Happy Marketer offers analytics and marketing technology solutions to organisations across Southeast Asia.

Happy Marketer’s managing partner, Prantik Mazumdar, and founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Rachit Dayal, will join Merkle’s leadership, reporting to Ted Bray, managing director and chief growth officer of Merkle Asia Pacific.

Part of Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Aegis Network is made up of 10 global network brands -- Carat, Dentsu, dentsu X, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Merkle, MKTG, Posterscope and Vizeum. Dentsu Aegis Network is headquartered in London and operates in 145 countries worldwide with more than 47,000 employees.

Dentsu has been expanding in India with the help of acquisitions. London-based Dentsu Aegis Network had acquired a majority stake in Pune-headquartered digital marketing and analytics provider Sokrati Technologies Pvt. Ltd in July 2017.

In April 2017, Dentsu bought Gurugram-based SVG Media Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture between Manish Vij’s Vun Network and Harish Bahl’s Smile Group, for nearly $130 million.

In December 2016, Dentsu had acquired Mumbai-based Fractal Ink Design Studio Pvt. Ltd, a service provider in the user interface and user experience domains. The deal was pegged Rs 215-300 crore.

In 2016, Dentsu purchased public relations firm Perfect Relations. In 2015, Dentsu bought Mumbai-based events agency Fountainhead Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. In 2015, Dentsu agreed to buy a 90% stake in WAT Media Pvt. Ltd, which operated a full-service digital agency under the brand WATConsult. In 2012, Dentsu acquired a 51% stake in Mumbai-based advertising agency Taproot India Communication Pvt. Ltd.