Publicis Groupe Buys Up Rokkan

By Kiran Aditham 

Well, this is a pretty notable item as we wind down for the holidays. Twelve-year-old, New York-based digital agency Rokkan, which works with clients ranging from Stoli to Sharp to Caesars to JetBlue (and was NOT for sale as of last summer) has been acquired by Publicis Groupe. Despite the 100 percent purchase, Rokkan (Japanese for “sixth sense”) will operate autonomously within the Publicis Groupe network and its co-founders, CEO John Noe, chief experience officer Chung Ng, and CCO Charles Bae, will continue to lead the agency.

In a joint statement, the co-founders say, “This is a major stepping stone that will take Rokkan to the next level and beyond. We’ve seen a number of potential buyers over the years, but it wasn’t until we met with the folks at Publicis Groupe that we found a partnership we truly believed in. Joining Publicis Groupe gives Rokkan access to resources, capabilities and knowledge to better scale, grow and service our multinational clients. Furthermore, it will help support Rokkan’s aggressive plans for domestic and global growth. We’re thrilled to be joining a company that believes in our culture, people and vision.”

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No word on financials yet, but the Rokkan acquisition marks just one of a handful made by YouTube manipulator/Publicis Groupe chief Maurice Levy & Co. within the last month alone including the purchase of luxury/fashion-focused agency AR New York and a couple of shops in India. We’ve been told that staff count at Rokkan will not be affected by this move.

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