Accenture has acquire Belgium-based design agency Kunstmaan. The acquisition adds around 70 professionals to Accenture's growing footprint in the digital design and consultancy space in Europe. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
Kunstmaan is a Leuven, Belgium, based design agency, with a wide people focused repartee, including intelligent communication and design as well as the wider use of innovative technologies as part of the development of a people centred customer experience. The agency, which was founded in 1998, has since grown to an interdisciplinary team of about 70 people across its base and an office in Antwerp.
As the divide between consultancy, design and digital development shrinks further, large professional services and a mix of consultancy firm types have begun to launch stand alone holistic design consultancy services – Deloitte for instance launched Deloitte Digital, IBM launched IBM Interactive Experience, while Accenture launched Accenture Interactive.
Accenture interactive has become the world’s biggest and fastest-growing digital agency, revenues were up almost 60% in 2016, hitting almost $3 billion (IBM Interactive Experience generated $2.1 billion in revenue in 2016 and Deloitte Digital generated $1.6 billion). The acquisition continues the firm’s global inorganic expansion drive*, expanding its footprint into Belgium and further strengthening its offerings in the brand, creative and marketing services segment to clients. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
“With Kunstmaan, we are accelerating our market position in Belgium as an agency where clients come for a truly holistic customer experience offering,” says Anatoly Roytman, head of Accenture Interactive for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America. “Together, we’re bringing our unique model to the market: part creative agency, part business consultancy and part technology powerhouse – all laser focused on creating the best customer experiences on the planet.”
Wim Vanhaeren, the founder Kunstmaan, reflects on the sale of the company, “Becoming part of the Accenture Interactive family will allow us to lend our creativity and experience to a much broader scope of projects and clients. We are driven by a passion to create human experiences for the right customer touch points using the right communication channels and tools. We are excited about joining Accenture as we firmly believe it will provide tremendous opportunities for our team and skills to flourish and grow.”