KPMG made its first acquisition in the creative space this week with its purchase of Sydney independent UDKU, adding to its marketing and advertising ‘artillery’, KMPG partner Carmen Bekker says.
The consultancy has been rapidly growing its recently formed Customer, Brand & Marketing Advisory (CBMA) unit, led by Paul Howes, since it launched last year.
In just 12 months, it’s grown from 12 to 90 people, luring top industry talent like former Google exec Lisa Bora, ex-Virgin CCO Mark Hassell and former Publicis Communications boss Andrew Baxter. It has also acquired two agencies; UDKU and research and insights business Acuity, back in February.
Bekker, who returned to Australia to join KPMG after leading JWT London, tells AdNews growth in the CBMA unit comes in response to client demand in skills like customer experience (CX) and social advisory.
Nearly 90% of chief marketing officers expect to be responsible for the whole CX by 2020, according to a report by Marketo, and it’s this demand that KMPG aims to meet with the acquisition of UDKU – which specialises in CX, explains Bekker.
“We recognise it’s important for companies to be pushing ahead in the CX area,” she says.
“The customer experience innovation lens we are adding to our artillery is a positive move and clients will love it.”
As for upcoming acquisitions, Bekker says KMPG is inquisitive to any new solutions to client problems.
The acquisition of UDKU sees its 10 staff join KPMG, including founders and ex-M&C Saatchi heads Mark Timmins and Colin Jowell, and Kon Marinis, who previously worked at IdeaWorks.
Transforming startups
UDKU formed in 2013 and specialises in CX, behavioural economics and neuroscience to transform startups into household names.
Like any acquisition, KMPG is now focused on how to successfully integrate UDKU, which has been rebranded as KPMG UDKU, into the consultancy.
Bekker says the agency will maintain its current structure within the CBMA unit, instead of creating one singular work force and combining with Acuity.
“UDKU has a boutique feel. We don’t want to absorb them completely,” she says.
If you look at any of the big consultancy/creative plays that have occurred out over the last 18 months – Accenture’s purchase of The Monkeys, RXP’s acquisition of The Works; PwC and Thinkerbell – the question is always how consultancy’s plan to maintain the unique culture within creative agencies.
Bekker is confident the CBMA culture will facilitate an easy transition between the two entities, also listing the various employee benefits KPMG offers, such as its flexible working policy and policies aimed at helping working parents.
Jowell says there’s a “genuine commitment” to ensure UDKU maintains its creative edge that’s allowed the agency to create work like Airtasker’s 2017 Like a Boss campaign.
“In an agile space, we’ve been given a fixed area to ensure that the team can continue to operate as we always have, even as we grow. There’s nothing we’ve delivered in the past that we won’t be able to deliver in the future,” he says.
There are also plans to expand UDKU’s footprint into Melbourne with the agency now able to tap into KMPG’s resources and its experts in artificial intelligence and blockchain, Jowell explains.
“While we have operated nationally since inception, we can now do this with local teams that enhance the collaborative approach we already have in place,” he says.
Consultancies have been increasingly encroaching into adland which had led to agencies either dismissing them as true competitors or trying to beat them at their own game.
Jowell believes being part of a consultancy and maintaining a strong creative output can be done.
“Creative agencies will always claim that they have the creative edge, whereas consultancies will claim accountability and rigour. But if you’re focused on the customer, and the entire customer experience, we don’t see it as being a trade-off,” he says.
“That’s why we founded UDKU five years ago, and that’s something we know we will maintain going forward.”
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