Digital Content Provider YAAP Acquires Brand Planet Consultants For $3Mn

Digital content service provider YAAP has acquired Brand Planet Consultants for $3 Mn (INR 20 Cr) in an all-cash deal.

Post-acquisition, Brand Planet will be rebranded as YAAP. The deal will help YAAP with its global expansion plan towards marketing its technology tools into branding practices, such as product packaging and logo designing.

As part of the deal, the founders of Brand Planet Consultants, Anjan Roy and Shouvik Roy, will join YAAP’s digital management team as senior partners.

Founded in 2008, Gurugram-based Brand Planet Consultants is a strategic branding and design company. Till recently, the firm was known as Elephant Delhi – the North Indian operations branch of Elephant Design. The company provides services in the area of branding and specialist design in NCR.

Anjan Roy, co-founder, Brand Planet said, “Using YAAP’s technology tools we can change traditional packaging. One use-case includes printing QR (quick response) codes that can be scanned on the mobile to read the attributes of the product.”

Currently, Brand Planet’s clientele includes The Coca Cola Company, Mrs. Bector’s Foods, Mahindra Comviva, Godfrey Phillips India, SBI Cards, Hero Cycles, PI Industries,and LT Foods. Among the other brands that the company has already helped build are BlaBlaCar and Paper Boats.

According to an official statement, Brand Planet facilitates strategic initiatives like corporate brand definition, identity development, packaging design for new and re-branded FMCG companies, B2B and B2E communications, retail, and POSM development. It also operates in the area of pure-play brand consulting initiatives, including market-entry strategy, brand positioning, portfolio management advisory, and corporate visioning, and identity.

Mumbai-based YAAP was founded by digital media professionals, Nikhil Bapat and Manan Kapur. It focusses on branded content, digital show formats, syndication, brand and visual identity; offers organised influencer research and outreach. It also looks at programmatic content placement, alliances, and channel partnerships. In July this year, it raised $5 Mn funding from Rainmaker Ventures.

In August 2016, Mini Menon and Alok Nair announced a strategic partnership by launching Indy Network, a technology-driven content platform targeting the Indian user. Prior to that, digital media firm Arre also raised an undisclosed investment from investment firm Enam Holdings, for a minority stake in the company.