AD Agencies
Mogae acquires Ashish Dabral’s Ao1 with share-swap
MUMBAI: A leading provider of integrated mobile marketing services Mogae Media has acquired Ao1 personalized video platform from Dentsu Marcom CEO Ashish Dabral. He had been developing this new-age technology platform for the past 18 months with a young tech team out of Gurgaon.
The transaction is a cashless one, involving a share-swap that will see Dabral joining Mogae Media as the executive director and Mogae taking full ownership of the tech platform. Mogae will fund the further development and deployment of the platform.
Ao1 is actually an acronym for ‘Audience of One’ which is what Mogae’s new acquisition seeks to deliver. “This is a wonderful technology that combines technology with creativity. It is like producing a TV commercial for just one person as audience”, said Mogae Media chairman Sandeep Goyal. “Worldwide, the trend is towards more and more video content consumption. With Ao1 we can personalise that content. So messaging to high-value customers can be individualized, and personalized such that the recipient feels special, and more positively disposed towards both the brand and its communication.”
Ao1 works as a sell/cross-sell/up-sell engine for customer loyalty. It works to enhance the messaging in any CRM effort of banks, insurance companies, telecom operators, retail, airlines, hotels, e-commerce destinations and all such business that seek to engage their customers better. Mogae Media has in the past worked with Idomoo of Israel, the pioneer-leaders in video personalisation.
The platform connects with the database of any client. The real-time personalisation engine resides in a cloud that enables the right video to be served to the right customer at the click of a link received by the customer in an email or text message. The driving principles behind Ao1 are engage (involve and inspire customers), connect (make it personal), satisfy (reward loyalty) and impact (create visible positive ROI).
MUMBAI: Mar-tech network Wondrlab Network is in talks to acquire advertising major Madison World, according to media reports, in a move that could reshape India’s agency landscape.
In a statement shared with Social Samosa, Wondrlab Network founder and CEO Saurabh Varma, confirmed that the group is actively evaluating acquisition opportunities but declined to confirm any specific transaction.
“We have consistently stated that Wondrlab is building for scale, and acquisitions remain an important part of that strategy. We are in discussions with multiple companies across capabilities that strengthen our platform-first, full-funnel marketing and technology offering. Any development will be communicated at the appropriate time,” Varma said.
Wondrlab has pursued acquisitions as part of an ambitious plan to buy 26 agencies across three phases. In 2025, it completed its seventh acquisition, underscoring its appetite for inorganic growth.
According to reports, Madison founder Sam Balsara is seeking around Rs 1,000 crore for the agency. If the Wondrlab deal goes through, it would rank as the largest acquisition of an Indian agency by another Indian agency.
Wondrlab was launched in November 2020 by Saurabh Varma, Vandana Varma, and Rakesh Hinduja. Its first acquisition followed swiftly with the December 2020 purchase of Amit Akali’s creative shop, What’s Your Problem.
Since then, the group has steadily expanded its footprint. It acquired influencer marketing firm Opportune and performance marketing agency Neon in 2022. In 2023, it bought Salesforce consultancy and data analytics firm Cymetrix, alongside Poland-based WebTalk, marking its entry into Europe. It later added influencer marketing agency OPA and, last year, took a majority stake in BigStep Technologies, a generative AI and cloud-native software firm.
Madison, meanwhile, has long been a target for global advertising groups. Over the years, it has drawn interest from WPP, Publicis Groupe and Dentsu. In May 2025, Havas was reported to be the frontrunner, with an offer of about Rs 700 crore for a majority stake.
Earlier talks with WPP in 2015, when Madison was valued at roughly Rs 500 crore, collapsed over valuation and equity differences. Discussions with Publicis and Dentsu also failed to yield a deal.
