Percept acquires By Design India, merges it with Imageads

Percept Holdings has acquired By Design India, a one-stop source agency for synergised creative communication solutions. By Design India has now been merged with Imageads, a Percept Group agency, to form a separate entity, IBD India.

By Design India was headed by Rahul Gupta, its founder and MD, who set it up in 1994. It evolved into a full-service cross-media communication specialist. Imageads, on the other hand, is a fully owned subsidiary of Percept/H, with a focus on specialised services for the services sector – financial, IT, education, insurance, hospitality and others. Imageads has handled around 100 public/rights issues for various sectors.

According to Percept Holdings, the design capabilities of By Design and the focus and processes that Imageads brings to the table will address today’s new age advertising for clients.

Gupta says, “IBD has been designed to be an agent of change. Our paradigm shifting ways are reflected most strongly in our strategic planning approach and in our wide portfolio of cutting-edge creative work across categories.”

“With Hakuhodo and Percept’s parentage, and the skill sets that we bring to the table, we hope to be a creative force to reckon with in the industry,” he adds.

IBD India starts off with a consolidated billing of Rs 1 billion per annum. Its service forte will include agility in responsiveness to market dynamics through modular and customised communication solutions and cost efficiency in services. The range of services includes advertising, promotions, direct marketing, brand identity and interactive media.

Ajay Chandwani, CEO, Percept/ H, says, “This partnership will only strengthen our service offering to our clients. While IBD will continue to service its key clients, we will look at working together and synergising wherever necessary to ensure the best creative and strategic inputs to all our clients.”

In fact, IBD has kick-started work with the Binani Cement campaign featuring actor Amitabh Bachchan. Some of IBD’s other clients include Taj, BreadTalk, K Raheja Group, JK Helene Curtis, Indian Oil, Avalon Aviation Academy, Georgia Gullini, Bank of India, and Sanjeev Kapoor’s cookery show, ‘Khana Khazana’.

For the record, IBD’s underlying premise is that the power of branding usually lies in the covert instead of the overt, and it will focus on its internal processes to ensure that it delivers strategic and creative outputs.