Mergers Alliances News: 10/06/09

DENTSU, SERCO LAUNCH CRM JV
Leena Mulchandani, Mumbai
The Economic Times (Delhi edition)

Dentsu India has joined hands with Serco BPO (formerly InfoVision) for its customer relationship management (CRM) and loyalty management agency. The new company, which will be called ClozR, will be a 51:49 joint venture between Dentsu India and Serco. Focusing on one-to-one brand communication, both in the digital and offline space, ClozR’s services will initially cater to the Indian and Middle Eastern markets. Dentsu is looking to set up a 100-member team for ClozR in three centres across India and one in Dubai. The company has already made eight top level appointments. ClozR services will include offline services such as loyalty and data management, direct marketing strategy, telemarketing and creative capabilities. In the online space, it will offer strategic planning, Internet and digital marketing among other services. The venture will be headed by Satish Sathyanarayana who was earlier CEO at Wunderman India. “Our focus will be to build relationships between consumers and brands,” he said. ClozR already has about five clients with yearly commitments. “We are in talks with more potential clients many of whom will need our expertise. We are looking to break even in a year,” added Mr Sathyanarayana. For Serco, CRM is not a new space since it has managed one-to-one marketing programs in the past among which are loyalty and telemarketing campaigns for clients like American Express. According to Aditya Gupta, CEO, Serco, companies have given attention to look at CRM in a more serious manner than in the past. “Today’s economic situation does not allow our clients to make exhaustive investments in specialised infrastructure and processes to deliver CRM, customer engagement and loyalty solutions,” he added.