Publicis Groupe acquires UK's Outside Line to boost Saatchi & Saatchi London

Publicis Groupe acquires UK's Outside Line to boost Saatchi & Saatchi London

MUMBAI: Continuing on its shopping spree across the globe, Paris headquartered Publics Groupe has acquired British digital agency Outside Line, a specialist in social and experiential media. Through this latest buy, Publicis has further enhanced the build-up of its profile in digital markets, in line with its strategic commitment to continue to increase the revenue it derives from digital and other high growth sectors.

Outside Line will be integrated into the Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide network, working alongside the Saatchi & Saatchi London office and further improving the agency‘s ability to deliver highly creative and effective multi-channel digital output at a faster, more efficient and cost effective rate. The agency‘s co-founders Ant Cauchi and Lloyd Salmons will take senior roles as digital directors at Saatchi & Saatchi London, and will be responsible for integrating existing business and growing digital revenue apart from continuing with their current duties. They will work closely with Saatchi & Saatchi‘s creative partners Kate Stanners and Paul Silburn, director of strategy Richard Huntington, as well as the director of integration Matt Groves, while reporting to Saatchi & Saatchi London‘s CEO Magnus Djaba.

Outside Line was founded in 2000 and is based in London. In its 12 years of existence, the agency has become one of the top five independent social agencies in the UK according to New Media Age‘s Top 100 agencies report. The agency employs a work force of 68 people with expertise in areas ranging from digital design and development to content creation, customer relations management to experience-driven social media marketing. Outside Line‘s client list includes Andy Murray, Arla Foods (Cravendale and Lurpak), British Gas, Queen and Virgin Galactic, and its award-winning campaigns include "Music Inspired" for Beck‘s, "Newsroom Blog" for British Gas, "Milk Matters" for Cravendale, and "Food Beats" for Lurpak.

Djaba said, "Outside Line is a perfect cultural fit for Saatchi & Saatchi. Both our agencies share an exciting vision. We‘re driven to create interactive social currency that is world-class, both online and offline - work that people share online, tweet about, and talk about in pubs, playgrounds and by the coffee machine. We‘re thrilled to be able to seize this opportunity to strengthen our digital core and further boost our service to clients in this crucial sector."

Cauchi and Salmons said in a statement, "We see this as a terrific opportunity to join an agency whose work we have always admired. Like us, Saatchi & Saatchi‘s teams are passionate about creating work that is inspiring and engaging, which people love and want to share. We know this is an exciting new step forward, both for our agencies and for our clients."