Accenture Interactive acquires design and innovation firm Insitum
Accenture Interactive, the marketing and design arm of Accenture, has entered an agreement to acquire Mexico City–based Insitum, a service design and strategic research firm focused on innovation. Accenture Interactive will bolt the company onto its design and innovation unit, Fjord.
Founded in 2003, Insitum uses design thinking, business strategy, behavioral science, and ethnographic research to solve critical innovation challenges for its clients. The company has a strong track record of delivering user-centred innovation capabilities, new products and services, and more relevant consumer experiences.
Insitum has more than 200 designers, strategists, and researchers across offices in Mexico City, Barcelona, Bogota, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Lima, and Sao Paolo. The company’s clients have included Uber, Roche, and BBVA.
Accenture Interactive’s acquisition of Insitum strengthens and expands the services of its design and innovation unit, Fjord, in Latin America. The deal, for which the financial terms were not disclosed, will expand Fjord’s footprint into Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, while strengthening existing operations in Brazil.
The acquisition of London-based design consultancy Fjord in May 2013 was Accenture Interactive’s first major acquisition. Since then, Accenture has quadrupled Fjord’s footprint, with 28 studios across the globe.
“Today’s problems can no longer be solved with yesterday’s solutions,” said Baiju Shah, chief strategy officer, Accenture Interactive and global co-lead, Fjord. “To tackle these challenges, clients must be agile and focus on blending a human-centered design approach with an analytics-led strategy to keep ahead of the unprecedented pace of change and ambiguity we live in. By adding the INSITUM team to the family, we will continue to grow our mission in Latin America by putting design at the heart of innovation.”
The move follows on from Accenture’s commitment to expand its Latin American reach and capabilities. The firm earlier acquired Brazil-based marketing agencies AD.Dialeto in 2015 and New Content in 2018. In April 2019, Accenture bought Spanish advertising agency Shackleton, which gave it a presence in Chile.
“We are convinced that design is a key ingredient of innovation and a powerful tool to make the world a better place — truly successful companies know how to incorporate design thinking in everything they do,” Luis Arnal, partner and CEO of INSITUM, said. “Being part of Accenture Interactive will allow us to integrate our strategic innovation expertise with new technologies and capabilities in order to amplify the value we deliver to our clients.”
Accenture Interactive has grown rapidly over the past six years, fueled by an aggressive acquisition strategy which has snapped up 30 agencies and firms. This has enabled the company to be the largest digital agency in the world for the past three years, according to the Ad Age Agency Report. The digital network had revenues of $8.5 billion in FY 2018 – representing 30% growth over 2017.
