The Bates Asia Group has picked up a stake in marketing services company Sercon. Sercon will now be integrated with 141 Worldwide and the new agency, 141 Sercon, would focus on below-the-line activities. Vijay Singh, managing director of Sercon, would be leading the operations of the merged entity along with Subhash Kamath, CEO of Bates Enterprise. Jeffrey Yu, president of Bates Asia, said: "Marketing services is a key focus area for the Bates Asia group, and we are totally committed to building the 141 brands across the region. India is a critical market for us and will be one of our super hubs. "Bringing Sercon into the family will jump start our plans to make 141 one of the most powerful marketing services brands in the country. Of course, this is subject to obtaining necessary government and other regulatory approvals.""While both agencies had been experiencing high growth rates for the past few years, the synergistic entity, post merger, will ensure that the best global marketing practices and tools are supported by robust execution abilities on ground across Asia. 141 Sercon will be the glocal agency of choice for brand managers," Singh said.Sercon, which was established in 1996, has worked with companies like Apple, Oracle, Asian Paints and L'oreal. It has a 120 member team with operations across major cities in India and South-East Asia.
