Concept PR acquires I:Connect Enterprise

Concept PR, a part of Indian independent agency network Concept Group, has announced its acquisition of public relations consultancy I:Connect Enterprise.

Following the all-stock deal, the three founding members of I:Connect -  Lokesh Tiwary, Shantanu Kumar and Shalini Gupta - and their team of 25 will merge with Concept PR. 

I:Connect was established by Lokesh Tiwary in 2009. Its clients include HTC, ZTE, Nuance, GE, SBI Cards, First Solar, Swarovski, Oriflame, BIBA, Gemfields and Rose.

Ashish Jalan,  director, Concept PR, said,“The merger with I:Connect is bound to add an extra zest to our team and service capabilities across all PR verticals. With Lokesh, we hope to leverage his tremendous understanding of consumers and communication platforms that comes with his years of experience as an advertising and PR professional. On the other hand Shantanu, an economics major and a hardened strategist, is best placed to boost our strategy planning abilities. In the recent past our lifestyle and sports-related PR services have gained a lot of ground, Shalini’s vast experience in these areas will be a certain advantage to the team.”

Tiwary added, "Concept is a name to reckon with in domains such as financial and corporate PR, crisis communication and media insights. While I:Connect on the other hand has in the last four years developed a strategic advantage in the domain of brand (PR) communication. What makes this merger perfect is that it brings together two complementary forces. The scale, business intelligence and client depth of Concept and the domain expertise of I:Connect. The collective strengths would enable Concept to enlarge its appeal. We see tremendous opportunity to benefit from this merger."

The merger was decided on in April 2014. In 2008, Concept PR forayed into sports and lifestyle communication with the acquisition and merger of Zzebra PR.

I:Connect is headquartered in New Delhi and has a presence in Mumbai. Concept PR has a team of over 200 spread across nine cities.