MAM
Dentsu to acquire Polish performance marketing agency
MUMBAI: Dentsu Aegis Network has reached an agreement to acquire the Polish performance marketing agency Marketing Wizards.
In Poland, Dentsu provides its clients with services in the digital performance domain through iProspect. Post-acquisition, Marketing Wizards will be integrated with iProspect, further strengthening its capabilities in the digital performance domain and providing even more innovative solutions through collaboration with other Group companies.
Founded in 2010, Marketing Wizards is a full-service digital agency that provides marketing services such as strategic planning, SEM, SEO, digital advertising in the social domain, e-mail marketing & CRM, and creative production in the digital arena.
The agency’s strengths in the digital performance domain include measurement of the causal relationship between digital advertising and consumer purchasing behavior that is linked to actual purchases, and its clients include many e-commerce companies who are focused on their businesses’ return on investment (ROI).
In its March 2015 worldwide advertising expenditure forecasts, the Group’s media communications agency Carat announced that digital advertising expenditures, which are second in scale only to television advertising expenditures in Poland, rose 7.5 per cent in 2014 (2.1 per cent increase in the advertising market overall), and are expected to rise further to nine per cent in 2015 and 11 per cent in 2016.
Marketing Wizards, which is headed by Marcin Pogroszewski as managing director, has 60 employees and its revenue for the year ended December 2014 stood at approximately $2.3 million (PLN 8,750,000).
Brands
Hocco crosses Rs 530cr revenue in two years
Sauce.vc-led Rs 100cr raise values ice cream brand at Rs 2,500cr pre-money as quick commerce hits 20 per cent of sales.
MUMBAI: Hocco has just scooped a seriously sweet milestone crossing the Rs 530 crore revenue mark in just two full years of operations. The fast-growing Indian ice cream and indulgence brand announced it has raised Rs 100 crore in fresh capital led by Sauce.vc. The round values the company at Rs 2,500 crore pre-money and underscores investor confidence in its rapid scale and distinctive India-first approach.
Founder Ankit Chona said the brand’s success stems from solving real Indian challenges extreme summer heat, fragmented cold chains and culturally rooted tastes. “In India, product development doesn’t end in the lab. It only ends when it survives the street,” he noted. This philosophy has produced viral hits such as Aamchi mango ice cream, BIX cake-sponge sandwiches, the Oh cone and culturally relevant collaborations like Haldiram’s Barfi and festive Modak specials.
Hocco currently operates manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad and Panipat with a production capacity of approximately 3 lakh litres per day, running near full capacity in peak season. The fresh capital will help expand this to around 4.5 lakh litres per day.
Quick commerce has emerged as a major growth engine, now contributing ~20 per cent of overall business and growing nearly 2x year-on-year. The channel has boosted product discovery, increased consumption frequency and helped extend ice cream beyond its traditional seasonal limits.
Sauce.vc founder Manu Chandra said, “At Sauce, we believe that when you chance upon an outlier business, you double down with stronger conviction. We see Hocco as just that.”
With a strong innovation pipeline, deeper distribution and continued focus on cultural relevance, Hocco is entering its third year aiming to capture even more mind space and market share. In a category long dominated by legacy players, this young brand is proving that the coolest way to win is to build for India’s realities, one scoop, one street and one satisfied craving at a time.
