Following media reports earlier this year, Deloitte India has now officially announced the acquisition of Spatial Access, a specialised media audit, analytics and marketing advisory firm.
Spatial Access was founded by Meenakshi Menon in October 2003.
According to a statement from Deloitte, the acquisition was made to enhance the organisation’s advisory capabilities and enable brands to make more efficient advertising and marketing decisions. Deloitte will also help brands instill global marketing best practices to reinvent the ‘future of marketing’.
Deloitte's expansion into media auditing services follow's Accenture's February decision to close its media auditing arm Accenture Media Management after facing much industry criticism. Agencies argued that Accenture's entry into marketing and advertising services with the acquisitions of The Monkeys, Ho Communications and Droga5 put it in conflict with its media auditing arm measuring the media effectiveness of its competitors. In May, Accenture also made an acquisition in India, Ahmedabad-based data analytics firm Byte Prophecy.
“Deloitte strengthens its foothold in the advertising and marketing advisory space by enabling our clients to enhance the effectiveness of their marketing spends which are directly aligned to their business objectives," said Chandrashekar Mantha, partner and media and entertainment industry lead, risk advisory at Deloitte India. "Our endeavor is to help brands address their business challenges by introducing value added, and differentiated tech-enabled solutions across the A&M value chain.”
“We are excited to be a part of Deloitte," added Menon. "At Spatial Access, our differentiator lies in understanding the key challenges of the advertising and marketing fraternity. We have an insiders’ view of the industry. This proposition - combined with the need to scale up the impact of marketing through the technology and analytics skills of Deloitte is poised to provide a more holistic, effective, and efficient solution suite on a larger platform and most importantly, deliver significantly enhanced value to our stakeholders.”