Dentsu Aegis Network acquires Fountainhead Entertainment

Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has announced the acquisition of event and experiential marketing agency Fountainhead Entertainment. 

Mumbai-headquartered Fountainhead was established in 1994, and has offices in Delhi and Bengaluru. 

 

Post acquisition, the team of 205 will continue to be led by Fountainhead chairman and co-founder Brian Tellis, who will take on the title of CEO. Tellis will report into Ashish Bhasin, chairman and CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network South Asia.

 

A DAN note said that by 2016, it proposes to merge existing experiential offering of psLIVE, with 86 people in India, with Fountainhead.

 

Nick Waters, CEO, Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, said, “Fountainhead’s reputation in the event and activation market, and their extensive experience in both music and sports marketing, complements and strengthens our experiential offering in one of the region’s most exciting markets. This move represents a further step in our continued investment programme in the Indian market. We welcome Brian and the wider team to the network.”

 

Bhasin said, “As the fastest growing network in India, we are continuing to expand our portfolio of diverse specialisations available to our growing client base. Fountainhead’s creative quality and reputation in the market make it the perfect addition to Dentsu Aegis Network India. Our unique ‘One P & L’ philosophy will help us bring their expertise to all Dentsu Aegis Network clients. This is another big step forward in helping us achieve our mission of being the second largest agency group by end 2017 in India, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

 

Tellis added, “Our vision is to deliver world class experiences to our stakeholders. To set benchmarks in delivery through cutting-edge creativity, innovation, value pricing and practices and processes.  We are thrilled to join Dentsu Aegis Network. The sheer dynamism of the group will open up opportunities for us. Our values are well aligned and the potentially combined entity of Fountainhead and psLIVE will become the most comprehensive experiential offering in India. We are very excited about this opportunity and the growth potential it offers. Fountainhead, a full service experiential agency, will now start to align with an enviable spectrum of brands through the Dentsu Aegis Network.”

 

The five brands within Fountainhead are: Fountainhead Events, Oranjuice Entertainment, Fountainhead Activations, Fountainhead Corporate Journeys and Fountainhead Digital. 

 

Fountainhead will retain its identity and branding, working alongside the other specialist Dentsu Aegis Network brands in India. These are Carat, iProspect, Isobar, Posterscope, Vizeum, Amnet, Dentsu media, Dentsu branded agencies (Dentsu Creative Impact, Dentsu Marcom, Dentsu Communications, Taproot Dentsu, DentsuWebchutney), WATConsult and MilestoneBrandcom.