MAM
WPP buys minority stake in Globant
MUMBAI: Global communications services group WPP has agreed to acquire a 20 per cent stake in Globant S.A., an emerging worldwide provider of technical expertise and design and creative capabilities in the development of software products that can be applied to digital marketing campaigns on a global scale. WPP will invest approximately $70 million for acquiring the Globant stake.
Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Globant employs 2,700 professionals in capacities ranging from engineers, marketing specialists and designers in 21 offices across 14 cities in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The company‘s approach is unique in that it provides clients with both the infrastructure and technical support that drive digital marketing campaigns, combined with the creative and design skills usually found alone in digital agencies.
Globant‘s net revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were $90 million and net revenues for the six months up to 30 June 2012 were $56.9 million with total assets of $69 million as of 30 June 2012.
WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell said, “Increasingly, clients want better coordination between their IT departments and their marketing departments, between their chief information officers (CIOs) and their chief marketing officers (CMOs). There are many consulting companies or digital agencies that are expert in one function or the other. Few, if any, do both and even fewer can integrate deep technical and creative capabilities on a global scale as Globant does. Partnering with Globant will allow our companies to increasingly provide our clients with insights and skills that will make their digital marketing efforts even more effective and simpler to manage at both the front and back ends.”
Globant has experience in working in state of the art digital marketing spaces including, but not limited to, mobile, gamification, social networks, cloud computing, big data and e-commerce. Globant‘s clients include American Express, JP Morgan Chase & Co., LinkedIn, Electronic Arts, Google, Coca-Cola, National Geographic, Zynga and Sabre Holdings, as well as a number of WPP companies, such as JWT, Young & Rubicam, Grey, GroupM and Kantar.
Globant CEO and co-founder Martin Migoya said, “Our core competencies in gamification, cloud computing, big data, social networks and mobile enable us to deliver innovation to our customers and add value to their efforts to reach end users through software products. We are focused on staying ahead of the technology curve, which makes us the right partner for companies looking to build and engage consumers in a global way. We are extremely proud to welcome WPP into our family; their support will help us to achieve our goal of becoming one of the most innovative software development companies in the world.”
Brands
Zepto sets up mini delivery hub at AI Summit
Quick commerce goes live at venue with 1,700 daily orders
NEW DELHI: At a summit devoted to the future of artificial intelligence, quick commerce quietly stole the show at ground level. Zepto set up a compact Delivery Hub at the India AI Impact Summit, turning the venue into a live demonstration of instant retail in action.
Built at roughly one third the size of a standard 4,000 sq ft dark store, the scaled down hub was engineered for speed. Despite its smaller footprint, it was stocked with more than 10,000 stock keeping units curated specifically for summit attendees. From mid morning cravings to late afternoon slumps, the shelves were primed for every possible need.
Till Wednesday, the hub was processing an average of 1,700 orders a day. Lunch hour emerged as the clear rush period, as delegates swapped panel discussions for paneer puffs and product demos for Diet Coke. Snacks topped the order charts, followed by tea and other beverages.
Among the fastest moving items were samosas, plain Maggi, chicken puffs, Bisleri packaged drinking water bottles, Coca-Cola Diet Coke cans and Lay’s India’s Magic Masala potato chips. In short, comfort food met cutting edge tech.
The on site hub gave attendees near instant access to essentials without stepping outside the venue. More than just a convenience counter, it served as a real time case study of how technology led operations can power seamless commerce even at large scale events.
While speakers debated how humans and intelligent systems will co create and co work, Zepto offered a practical reminder that sometimes the smartest innovation is simply getting a hot snack into hungry hands, fast.
