PARIS: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide has acquired Parisian PR
firm AKKA, marking the agency's first full-scale move into France.
Ogilvy will maintain its separate healthcare practice in the country,
which serves Pfizer, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson.
Seven-year-old AKKA anticipates 2001 billings of $3 million.
Headed by Jane Goodman and Lorraine d'Huart, AKKA has 22 full-time
staffers. Clients include Amadeus, The Carlyle Group, The Compass Group,
Deloitte Consulting, Enterprise Ireland, FTSE, Infonet, Pernod Ricard,
and Sony.
Ogilvy chairman and CEO Bob Seltzer points to the Deloitte business, for
one, as a major synergy between the two companies. Ogilvy works for
Deloitte's consulting arm in the US, while AKKA does business with the
company's financial arm and accounting services. The companies also
share business with Sony, and Seltzer said there were no client
conflicts.
The AKKA name will disappear under the Ogilvy banner. Goodman and
d'Huart will report to Nick May, Ogilvy's president of Europe.
May said the French acquisition had been a driving need for Ogilvy,
explaining that any multinational client will want to hire an agency
with a presence in all five major European markets.
