Ogilvy & Mather Acquires A Majority Stake In PennyWise, A Leading Digital Technology And Production Company In India

Acquisition further strengthens O&M's global digital capabilities and dominance

NEW YORK, Sept. 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), a division of WPP, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in PennyWise Solutions Pvt. Ltd. ("PennyWise"), one of India's leading digital technology and production companies.

Founded in 2003 and based in Hyderabad, PennyWise offers a wide range of digital services, including custom application development, mobile application development, SEO, digital listening, online consumer response management systems, data analytics and business intelligence, network support and infrastructure management services.

The deal advances Ogilvy & Mather's digital strategy in Asia Pacific, aligning its existing excellence in digital strategy and creative with the technical and production strengths of PennyWise.

Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director, Ogilvy South Asia, said, "PennyWise are, quite simply, the best digital technology and production professionals in the business. This is a strategic investment. It will combine the digital skills and services of both companies to deliver solutions for our clients."

PennyWise has a global customer base, covering Europe and North America, as well as India.  Its current client portfolio includes Vodafone India, Johnson & Johnson and WPP agencies like Ogilvy & Mather and Soho Square.

"Not only is this acquisition critical to our digital growth in India, it is vital to the O&M network for the entire APAC region and across the globe," explained Brandon Berger, O&M's Worldwide Chief Digital Officer. "PennyWise is an important pillar to our O&M network strategy of deepening our digital resources and capabilities worldwide."

This investment also marks a further step towards WPP's declared goal of developing its networks in fast-growth and important markets and sectors.

About Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is one of the largest marketing communications companies in the world. It was named both the Cannes Lions Network of the Year and the EFFIEs World's Most Effective Agency Network for two consecutive years, 2012 and 2013. The company is comprised of industry leading units in the following disciplines: advertising; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; shopper and retail marketing; health care communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing; consulting, research and analytics; branded content and entertainment; and specialist communications. O&M services Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses through its network of more than 500 offices in 126 countries. It is a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY). For more information, visit http://www.ogilvy.com/, or follow Ogilvy on Twitter at @Ogilvy and on Facebook.com/Ogilvy.

About PennyWise
PennyWise Solutions was started by a small group of BITS Pilani graduates in 2003. PennyWise Solutions (PennyWise) is a full service digital and software solutions provider based in Hyderabad, India. PennyWise leverages its in-depth understanding of Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) to deliver integrated digital solutions.

The company's range of technology offerings and service delivery capabilities include:

• Custom application development across web and mobile
• Online commerce and enterprise eCommerce applications
• Enterprise content management solutions
• Custom social media monitoring and decisioning platforms
• SEO and SEM services
• Customer interaction management services
• Data, analytics and BI solutions

Backed by a state of the art facility, process maturity, flexibility in delivery, cost effective solutions and a team that is deeply passionate about anything digital, PennyWise has deployed solutions to companies across the world.

PennyWise was awarded Best Small IT & ITES Company at Dun & Bradstreet – Fullerton India SME Awards 2008. In 2011, PennyWise was shortlisted for NASSCOM EMERGE 50 Awards, as well for top 30 ET Now Leaders of Tomorrow 2011 Awards.

SOURCE Ogilvy & Mather