- David Gianatasio

BOSTON Publicis Groupe continues to expand its Digitas network, today rebranding Solutions -- its marketing arm in India and Singapore -- as Solutions/Digitas.

Solutions managing director Srikant Sastri and director, president Kanika Mathur will continue to lead the operation. The two will report to Alan Rutherford, CEO of Digitas Global.

"This decisive step once again illustrates our commitment to establishing a cutting-edge international digital network," Rutherford said in a statement. "We're thrilled to be working with Srikant [and] Kanika. Bringing their talent into our global network is a huge advantage for Digitas and for our clients."

With headquarters in New Delhi, the company operates in five additional cities in India (Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata) as well as Singapore. Solutions initially joined Publicis in 1995 and offers digital, direct, promotions and shopper marketing services. Some key clients are Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Aviva, Gillette, Pepsi, Philips and Sony-Ericsson.

In addition to servicing existing clients and offering an Indian service for global accounts, Solutions/Digitas will continue to develop Prodigious, a digital production firm spun out by Digitas a year ago. Publicis agencies and various clients use Prodigious to create digital assets cheaply in India, China and Eastern Europe.

Since its $1.3 billion acquisition by Publicis as 2007 began, Digitas has expanded into the United Kingdom, China, Japan and France.

Paris-based Publicis has been shoring up its capabilities in many areas for nearly two years. In addition to building out Digitas to extend its global reach in the interactive realm, Publicis has made acquisitions to strengthen its consulting and media-buying operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. In January, the holding company scooped up Act Now Productions, a sustainability consultancy in San Francisco that now operates under Publicis' global Saatchi & Saatchi agency network.