Accenture plans another strong creative acquisition in SEA with Romp

Accenture Song is planning to make its presence felt in the advertising community in Southeast Asia with the acquisition of brand and experience agency Romp in Indonesia. While Accenture Song (formerly Accenture Interactive) declined to share the cost of acquisition, the company said the acquisition of Romp will strengthen Accenture Song’s ability to deliver creative and tech-driven brand experiences for clients across Southeast Asia.

Romp, which started up in 2019, has made a name for itself for its creative talent and innovative services across branding, creative and performance marketing in Indonesia. The agency is founded by the long-time former CEO of MullenLowe Indonesia Joseph Tan (pictured above centre) who made waves in the Indonesian advertising scene leaving the firm after 12 years. Along with his departure, the then MullenLowe chief creative officer Roy Wisnu and chief operating officer Daniel Siswandi also left the agency.

The agency boasts strong local knowledge and expertise in brand communications, design and digital operations. Some of its clients in Indonesia include Telkomsel, Indofood, Danone, Kimberly-Clarke Softex, Grab, Google and Godrej. Currently it has a team of over 150.

Joseph Tan, Romp’s chief executive officer, said: “We have always believed in harnessing the power of creativity and helping clients build strong and long-lasting relationships with their customers. We also constantly elevate ourselves through new thinking methods and approaches. Joining Accenture Song will fully converge the brand storytelling that we love with Accenture’s tech innovation, enabling us to help our clients truly deliver against limitless opportunities with global impact.”

Thomas Mouritzen (pictured above right), Accenture Song’s Southeast Asia lead, said Accenture Song’s ambition is to be clients’ go-to partner as they reimagine their business to achieve long-term growth.

“Our deep understanding of consumers and businesses, combined with Romp’s outstanding brand capabilities, will broaden our ability to harness the ongoing technology revolution for consumers and brands. This is a powerful proposition for our clients seeking to win with innovative thinking and connected capabilities in Southeast Asia,” said Mouritzen.

The potential of Indonesia

According to Accenture Song, Romp will enhance its brand and marketing expertise, reinforcing its ability to help clients embrace new frontiers such as the metaverse and become relevant, experience-led organisations. It also strategically aligns with Accenture’s business strategy to help businesses in Indonesia capture opportunities in a post-pandemic economy that’s poised for substantial growth – its digital advertising market is the fastest growing in Southeast Asia and its e-commerce market is estimated to reach $53.8 billion in 2025.

Jayant Bhargava (pictured above right), Accenture’s country managing director for Indonesia, said to deliver the best brand experiences for customers, companies in Indonesia are looking to integrate marketing, data and technology for differentiation. This is where Romp’s cultural sensitivity, and strong track record, together with Accenture’s scale in technology and machine learning will uniquely position the firm in helping clients in Indonesia accelerate revenue growth.

Flaviano Faleiro (pictured below right), Accenture Song’s president for Growth Markets, explained that the intent to acquire Romp builds on Accenture Song’s mission to help clients find their go-to growth playbook which requires the combination of creativity, intelligence, technology and diverse talent. These traits are needed for businesses looking to continuously transform amidst new experience models in the metaverse and via social commerce, and solve for the unknowns with future. “By adding Romp’s brand and experience capabilities to our market’s portfolio, we continue to strengthen the value we bring with our world-class services within Growth Markets,” said Faleiro.

Divyesh Vithlani, senior managing director and Southeast Asia market unit lead at Accenture(pictured below left), added that the growth of the digital economy in Southeast Asia is now pushing brands to create meaningful experiences to meet customers' needs. As such, companies are increasingly looking to tap artificial intelligence, data and technology to drive creative content. “Romp’s expertise with Accenture’s scale will enable us to deliver this excellence in a way that’s unique to the region,” said Vithlani

Accenture continues to invest in capabilities to help its clients drive growth through relevance. Last year, Accenture Song acquired Kuala Lumpur-based creative agency, Entropia, to deepen its capabilities in customer experience, design and creative communications.