Saurabh Varma’s recently founded platform-first marketing technology company, Wondrlab, has announced its first acquisition with What’s Your Problem (WYP), a media-agnostic and integrated creative solutions agency set up by Amit Akali a little over five years ago. With the acquisition, WYP founder Amit Akali will now be Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Wondrlab.
WYP is widely regarded as one of the fastest-growing creative agencies in India, having won top honours at Cannes Lions and Clio, alongside the Content Agency of the Year award at Goafest. WYP was also one of the most awarded agencies from India at the APAC Effies.
In the process of integration, WYP will join forces with Wondrlab’s content platform while maintaining its identity as a separate brand. It was only last month that former Publicis Groupe Management members Saurabh Varma, Vandana Verma, and Rakesh Hinduja had launched Wondrlab with three key verticals — Content, Experience, and Digital Business Transformation. Wondrlab is said to have already won 25 clients by now and is expected to have over 100 employees by the end of the year.
Talking about his company’s first acquisition, Varma said, “I had the opportunity to watch WYP during a pitch and was incredibly impressed by their thinking, passion, and ability to solve clients’ problems in a meaningful way. I decided to connect with Amit and over a few conversations realised that we had the same purpose and belief in the kind of work we wanted to do. We both believed in the power of creativity and the future which data and technology can serve us. We both felt that our future is in building our own platforms. It is truly amazing seeing WYP’s journey and the incredible job Tejas Mehta, Ruchita Zambre and the entire team have done and the reputation they have built. I am proud that Amit joins us as a co-founder. I could not have asked for a better partner to help us shape and drive our creative firepower. WYP is our first acquisition and we will continue to curate, partner, launch, and acquire as we move forward.”
Akali, a veteran of over 25 years of industry experience, was National Creative Director at Grey India while also being part of the Grey Global Creative Council. Taking about joining the Wondrlab network, Amit said, “What we’ve achieved at WYP has been phenomenal. Today, we are a 60-member team at our new BKC office in Mumbai. The momentum in the last year has been even greater, with us being probably the only agency that’s grown manifold in the lockdown. We’ve been lucky to create some of the most talked-about work in the last few months, be it the iconic Johnnie Walker Travelling Billboard, Tanishq ‘Ekatvam’, or the IPL campaign for Dailyhunt. A big thanks to Praful who helped me start WYP with the other co-founders, Tejas who has played a key role in our growth and continues to do so, along with every past and present employee who has always looked at WYP as their own family and given it their all. We are thrilled to be a part of Wondrlab. I am excited about the new, even larger, playing field we’re getting. The integration is almost seamless as the vision is identical. In a digital-first era, platformisation, and technology are the drivers of customised solutions for brands.”
On the rolls of What’s Your Problem are some of the country’s marquee clients, such as Future Generali, Tanishq, Ajio, DailyHunt, Spotify, Zee5, John Players, Rohan Builders, Arrow, and DS Foods. In the past, WYP has handled Amazon, Flipkart, ITC foods, ITC Personal Care, and Diageo.
