Mumbai: The GroupM-owned digital media agency Essence has opened two offices in India – Mumbai and Bangalore – plus hubs in Jakarta and Melbourne as part of its expansion plans Asia-pacific.
With this regional count goes up to 10 offices. Apart from the new offices Essence has offices in Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai, Delhi and Seoul with its employees count standing around 300 across the region.
In India, Anand Chakravarthy, the former managing partner of the now-closed Maxus, who was recently made the local MD of Essence, will lead the three-office operation.
Chakravarthy reports to T. Gangadhar, the former head of MEC, and now chairman of Essence India.
GroupM’s doubling down on Essence’s presence follows on from last year’s consolidation of Maxus and MEC in order for the company to ramp up its investment in the data-heavy agency.
Essence has experienced rapid growth in APAC since it first launched with four Singapore-based employees in 2013.
In Jakarta, the agency’s first foray into Indonesia, the operation will be led by KunalGuha, the Singapore-based managing director of Essence Central Asia. Here the agency will service Essence’s main global client Google.