The French advertising firm Publicis Groupe has purchased the South African marketing company Lighthouse Digital, the largest digital media agency in Africa.
Founded in 2009, the marketing company consists of 30 employees in two locations in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Lighthouse Digital will be renamed SMG Lighthouse and become a part of Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest Group division. Starcom’s SMG South Africa division will have more than 80 employees after the merger.
“Starcom MediaVest Group has a solid reputation in Africa and around the world for providing top notch media services to their clients,” said Aaron van Schaik, CEO of Lighthouse. “Aligning with SMG gives us global scale and a more powerful face to the market which we can leverage to constantly improve our offering and give our clients the tools and solutions they won’t get anywhere else.â€
The South African marketing company has campaigns running in multiple countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa for companies like Microsoft, MasterCard, and HTC.
Omnicom, meanwhile, has purchased Indian marketing group 22feet Communications in Bangalore, India, according to Ad Age. The marketing and web design agency has worked with companies like Red Bull and Lenovo.
Publicis Groupe made headlines in 2013 after announcing a merger between itself and American advertising company Omnicom Group, to form Publicis Omnicom Group.