Accenture buys digital consultancy Fjord

Management consultancy group Accenture has announced a deal to buy international interactive design specialist Fjord.

Fjord was set up in London in 2001 by founders Olof Schybergson, Mark Curtis and Mike Beeston. It now has more than 200 employees and offices in Berlin, Helsinki, Istanbul, Madrid, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Stockholm.

The deal will see Fjord join Accenture as part of the management giant’s Accenture Interactive arm. Accenture would not disclose the value of the deal.

Accenture says the acquisition will give them design capabilities to complement the business strategy, marketing and analytics services already offered.

Brian Whipple, global managing director of Accenture Interactive, says, ‘Marketing and digital executives are key buyers of our services, and Fjord marks our continued strategic investment in digital and marketing to better serve our clients.’

Fjord’s Schybergson says, ‘For some time we’ve known that if we really want to seize the opportunity ahead of us, we need to do it in partnership with someone else.

‘A very appealing aspect [of this deal] is that it allows us to continue to do what we set out to do right from the start – creative services that people love.’

The deal is the latest in a series of recent high-profile acquisitions in the digital sector, with AKQA bought by WPP for £350 million and LBi acquired by Publicis Groupe in a deal worth £332 million.

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  • Antti Aumo November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    This acquisition strengthens an industry trend initiated two years ago by Ixonos when they started opening world class design studios to complement their software development centers. As customer response has been overwhelmingly positive, other companies are also trying to combine high quality design with high quality development ability. This confirms that Ixonos has been on the right track.

    But getting design and technology under same ownership doesn’t solve the problem. Getting them to work together is much more complicated, and really makes the difference. Having flawless ability to both design and deliver takes years to mature, and even Ixonos as the first company is on the learning path.

    You need a holistic approach which combines consulting, design and development into one, tight offering. Then you really are able to deliver complex multi-platform based solutions with innovative and consistent design experience. Where world class design meets technology perfection.

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