MAM
Aegis Media swallows India’s Communicate 2
MUMBAI: Aegis Group has made its second acquistion in India. The UK-based agency snapped up Communicate 2, a performance marketing and search agency in India, to strengthen its digital presence in India.
Communicate 2‘s gross assets till March-end stood at Rs 129.9 million.
Pursuing targeted acquisitions, Aegis Media had acquired a majority stake in Doosra Brand Communications to add creative capability to its India outfit.
In the recent deal, Aegis has decided to merge Communicate 2 with iProspect India‘s existing operations as it seeks to strengthen its network in key cities across India and provide additional service capabilities for its clients. The agency will now be known as iProspectCommunicate 2.
“The combined employee strength will be about 150 people,” said Aegis Media chairman India and CEO South East Asia Ashish Bhasin.
Communicate 2 is a specialist performance marketing agency which focuses on search marketing, digital strategy consulting, social media and digital content production.
Vivek Bhargava will continue to lead this merged entity as CEO. “We are very happy to welcome Communicate 2, led by Vivek Bhargava, to the Aegis Media family. Communicate 2 is India‘s pioneering Search and Performance marketing agency and Vivek is a well known guru in this field. I believe that search will be the fastest growing part of our industry for the foreseeable future and as part of the iProspect network, Communicate 2 will continue to be the undisputed leader in this area,” said Bhasin.
Vivek will also join the Aegis Media India executive council. “We look forward to seeing iProspectCommunicate 2 going from strength to strength,” Bhasin added.
The acquisition, which has just been completed, is in line with the Aegis‘ strategy of increasing its digital profile and capability in faster growing regions.
Aegis Media also runs Isobar in the digital space. The interests of Isobar and iProspect, however, are very different. While Isobar is a global digital marketing network that is into web development, app development, media buying and planning for digital medium, iProspect is a global digital performance agency. iProspect helps brands maximise their online marketing RoI through paid search, social media strategy, search engine optimisation, display, mobile marketing, comparison shopping engines, conversion optimisation, attribution modelling and management, and other related services.
The Indian digital ad industry is sized at around Rs 24 billion and has a huge growth opportunity. Currently, Aegis generates close to 12 per cent of its India revenues from digital. “In the Indian digital ad pie, Aegis‘ digital agencies Isobar and iProspect constitute around 3.25 per cent. This works out to Rs 780 million,” a source said.
Originally established in 1997, Communicate 2 handles clients like Tata Consultancy Services, Cleartrip, ICICI Lombard and HDFC Bank. It has offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Pune and employs over 130 employees.
In July this year, Japanese media conglomerate Dentsu agreed to buy out UK-based Aegis Media Group for a whopping $4.9 billion.
Also read:
Dentsu to acquire Aegis for $4.9 bn
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
