Dentsu acquires controlling stake in Taproot India, invests in Maxifier

Taproot will work with the Dentsu India Group, which comprises three standalone full-service advertising agencies: Dentsu Communications, Dentsu Marcom and Dentsu Creative Impact. The group also includes Dentsu Media and Dentsu Digital.

 

Working with Dentsu will enable Taproot to offer a more comprehensive range of services to its clients and across larger market geographies.

 

According to the agencies, Taproot will continue to operate independently under the management of its current leadership, its co-founders and chief creative officers, Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, and Rohit Ohri, executive  chairman, Dentsu India Group. 

 

"Taproot's everyday operations and management will remain unchanged," said Ohri, and Taproot's "independent spirit" will remain intact. "It will just have a lot more firepower added through integrated communication execution capability and an all-India network.”

 

Dias added that while Taproot was doing well on the creative front, the agency required greater logistical and service capabilities across markets. "With Dentsu as our partner we feel we can scale up several areas of our operations very quickly without losing what has been working for us so far," he said. 

 

Also today, Dentsu has also invested in London-based online advertising technology business Maxifer via Dentsu Digital Holdings (DDH), which actively invests in emerging digital companies through its Dentsu Digital Fund. 

 

According to a spokesperson for Dentsu, the investment was in the form of "allocation of new shares to a third party" and DDH will be working in partnership with Maxifier. 

 

"Due to the confidential agreement with Maxifier, we will not be able to disclose the size of our stake," he told Campaign.

 

Maxifier's online inventory management platform Admax has been adopted by major media companies in the US and Europe including Forbes and The Guardian. 

 

In May this year, Maxifier launched its Tokyo office, which was a contributory factor in this investment. 

 

DDH decided to invest in Maxifier based on its potential to contribute to the development of online advertising.

 

"For DDH, this represents both a monetary investment and a business investment," said Mutsumi Imaizumi, COO at DDH. "As well as providing capital investment, we will also be working in partnership with Maxifier to develop opportunities to drive the adoption of solutions that help grow the online advertising market.”
 

The investment will see the Dentsu Group collaborate with Maxifier, particularly through its technology-driven digital communication subsidiary Cyber Communications. The agencies will be examining joint business development plans that encompass the entire Asian market.