 "Vincent Digonnet")
Vincent Digonnet is among Publicis Groupe's key executives in the digital vertical, a segment that provides the world's third-largest advertising and marketing communications company half of its revenue. Earlier an executive chairman of Razorfish APAC, which is the French holding company's digital agency in India and the globe, Digonnet was recently promoted to the chief growth and transformation officer for the Razorfish global network. He tells Viveat Susan Pinto his new responsibilities, a road map for Razorfish in a priority market such as India, the integration of Publicis and Sapient globally, as well as in India, and acquisitions, if any, in the digital vertical. Excerpts:
What does your new role entail and what is your plan for India?
India was the first market I came to the moment I was promoted in January. My main job will be to transform Razorfish's operations as the world around it evolves, adapt the agency to competition, which is coming from all quarters, and to attract talent as it expands operations here in India, as well as globally.
As far as India goes, our priority will be to deliver digital and technology solutions to sectors such as e-commerce. India is already seeing an explosion in e-commerce, led by the penetration of mobile devices, notably, smartphones. The next phase will be the convergence of social media and e-commerce. This has already happened in China. India will be next in line, where we will see this convergence, which I call social commerce. These social-commerce platforms will be the backbone of consumer engagement in the years to come. We would like to be ready for this when the market evolves with our digital technology and expertise.
Last month, Publicis Groupe completed the $3.7 billion (or Rs 22,200 crore) acquisition of Sapient, which it had announced in November. How is Publicis integrating Sapient? How will it unfurl in India?
Sapient will be the umbrella for all of Publicis' digital assets in India, as well as across the globe. So, in India, agency brands such as Razorfish, Digitas LBi, and Sapient Nitro will continue to operate as these are.
There will be no merger of these agencies. The back-end, however, which is Sapient's digital technology and infrastructure, will be accessible to all Publicis' digital agencies. In India, it means Razorfish and Digitas LBi, in addition to Sapient Nitro, will be able to tap into this back-end software and infrastructure.
This is the structure that will be unveiled across the world as well. The idea of the Sapient acquisition was to not only get access to its cutting-edge technology and work, but it has also allowed us to consolidate our digital offerings under one umbrella.
Rosetta, which is part of the Razorfish global network, acquired digital marketing and customer relationship management firm Expicient in the US two weeks ago. Will you consider any acquisitions in India?
We are consolidating the gains made from the Sapient acquisition. The last, as you know, has a huge workforce sitting here in India. The Expicient acquisition by Rosetta also has an Indian angle to it. The technology team of Expicient is mainly Indian. So, we do have a significant Indian presence in terms of expertise. Our game plan at Razorfish would be to leverage this expertise as we get future-ready.
How are you positioning Razorfish, Digitas LBi, and Sapient Nitro in India, given service lines in digital are not as sharp here in comparison to the rest of the world?
That threat is always there. However, even if these land up competing with each other at the end of the day, these are all part of one group. At a broad level, Razorfish is strong in business transformation and experience design. Sapient is strong in systems integration. Sapient Nitro is a digital advertising and marketing specialist. Digitas LBi is a customer-relationship management specialist.
As a group, our effort would be to offer everything a client would require when he sets out to mark his presence in the digital space. So, even if agency brands land up competing with each other, it is not a cause for worry yet.
What areas are you working on to strengthen Razorfish's strengths?
Yes. This convergence of social media and e-commerce is something we are giving special emphasis on. In our view, this convergence will be the platform for driving not only e-commerce, but also marketing communications in the world.
There is a massive global project that we are working on in this area, the pilot project of which is being done in China. It will be unveiled in 40 countries after that. India is not part of the first phase, but will come later. The reason is we are targeting those markets where e-commerce is fairly evolved. In India, e-commerce is a relatively new retail channel.
