Accenture Interactive is looking to house all of its London agencies in the same office.
Anatoly Roytman, senior managing director, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Latin America lead and global commerce offering lead at Accenture Interactive, said looking for a space was an "important part" of what he planned to focus on "in the next six months".
He said: "I want to find a space for people to sit together. That is super-important because they generate new ideas if they work together, they sit together, they have fun together. We are doing it in London.
"London is difficult, but [we’re] trying to find a facility where we can move [all our agencies] into the same building. Given that we grow so much, it's difficult to find space that will accommodate us forever. It sounds silly, but this is very, very important part of what we need to do."
Accenture Interactive bought Karmarama, which was at the time one of the biggest independent agencies, in November 2016. In April this year, it bought Droga5, which is based in New York but has a burgeoning London office. It also owns design shop Fjord.
A spokeswoman for Accenture clarified: "As we grow and evolve the business, we will continually look for ways to bring together our diverse skillsets under one roof to create better experiences for our clients.
"This is something we have already done successfully in Dublin, Amsterdam and Brazil. This is more of a long-term vision."
Roytman said Accenture Interactive’s Dublin studio was "fantastic".
Accenture Interactive opened a studio for Fjord and some other key parts of its business in the same building as Karmarama in March 2018.
When asked if Accenture was looking to buy anything else in the UK, Roytman said: "I wouldn't say that there is a category missing. If there [are a] few good people, that could happen potentially, but the UK is one of those more mature markets for us."
Accenture’s plans to bring its agencies together are a response to what clients are asking for. Roytman explained: "A big number of clients are coming to us asking for joined-up offer. And that requires creating a new model of operating across a number of different units across different geographies coming together. This is super-exciting. But it also requires a bit of time."
If colleagues see each other’s work, they can "share without reinventing the wheel", he continued: "You will see technologists working with creators and I'm excited because I see them being excited about that."
In recent years, many of the traditional holding groups have brought their agencies together in the same building. Havas was one of the first and moved all of its London agencies into a purpose-built office in King’s Cross in March 2017.
Yesterday (Tuesday), WPP confirmed plans to open a "campus" for its agencies in Manchester. The new building on the former site of Granada Studios will house the Manchester offices of MediaCom, Wavemaker, Kinetic, Code Computerlove and Cheetham Bell.
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