Japanese digital marketing and consulting agency Ayudante is looking at the Philippines as its next key market for expansion following its acquisition of Singapore-based counterpart Sparkline.
Sparkline, an independent digital marketing company, already has a presence in the Philippines, making it a strategic acquisition for Ayudante. The deal makes Sparkline a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ayudante.
Ayudante already has a presence in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. Its acquisition of Sparkline underscores the increasing interest of multinational companies in Southeast Asia’s dynamic tech ecosystem, per the announcement.
Ayudante is the first Japanese Google Marketing Platform Certified Partner and Reseller while Sparkline is a pioneering partner and reseller. Besides the Google Marketing Platform business, the collaboration will also focus on SEO across multiple languages and digital marketing.
Ayudante’s chief operating officer Naohiro Yamaura will assume the position of chairman of the board of Sparkline following the acquisition. He will collaborate with Sparkline CEO Aleetza Senn to accelerate Sparkline’s growth in the regional market.
“I am pleased to be partnered with Sparkline, which has the longest history in our business field in Singapore. Together, we aim to become the top GMP reseller in the Asia Pacific region,” said Ayudante CEO Hiroshi Yasukawa.
The names of the respective companies will not change, and the conditions of the acquisition have not been publicly disclosed.
Sparkline’s Senn said the company has always been about providing bespoke and agnostic analytics services to businesses using digital data for customer and marketing growth.
“This alignment with Ayudante is really exciting and helps us scale that vision to many more businesses in the region, especially at a time when the industry is being disrupted due to privacy regulations and change,” Senn stressed.
The acquisition comes as the Philippines is considered a critical market in this region for the Google Marketing Platform. This is in line with the growing demand for data analytics and digital marketing solutions in the country.