Omnicom acquires digital transformation firm to boost consultancy

Dive Brief:

Omnicom Group acquired digital experience consultancy TA Digital to expand its digital transformation, content management, commerce and customer experience capabilities, according to a press release.
San Francisco-based TA Digital specializes in design, delivery and implementation of customer experience, content management and commerce solutions for enterprise clients. It is a leading partner with Adobe, Acquia, SAP and Sitecore. TA Digital's management team will continue to lead the company, which has more than 800 employees.
TA Digital will join Omnicom Precision Markeitng Group (OPMG) and its services will be closely tied to OPMG's Credera consultancy. The acquisition comes as Omnicom plans to ramp up M&A after growing organically by 10.2% in 2021.

Dive Insight:

Omnicom is shoring up key growth areas for the entire agency space, including digital transformation, content management, commerce and customer experience, by acquiring a growing digital experience consultancy that will join OPMG and work closely with Credera, which it acquired in 2018.

“The addition of TA Digital to our suite of offerings is a natural progression in our growth as we continue to expand our digital transformation solutions. TA Digital offers comprehensive commerce, content and Adobe expertise and will help serve the growing client demand in this space," said Credera President and CEO Justin Bell in a statement.

Omnicom reported organic growth of 10.2% in 2021, with revenue increasing 8.5% to $14.29 billion. OPMG overperformed other areas of the business, growing 19% to make up 8% of Omnicom's total revenue on the year as client demand for its digital transformation consultancy services grew.

Previously, Credera acquired Salesforce specialist BrightGen and digital marketing firm Areteans to boost its digital transformation and customer experience offerings. The acquisition comes as Omnicom plans to ramp up M&A after a relatively dormant period a few years ago, chairman and CEO John Wren explained on the company's recent earnings call.

"We are also increasing our investment in such areas as AI and automation, e-commerce, performance media, data and analytics as well as in high-growth industry opportunities such as gaming and the metaverse," he said.

Over the last year, agency holding groups like Omnicom have made M&A a priority as they've worked to safeguard gains made as the digital ad market has continued to grow, with a focus on areas like e-commerce and performance media.