Casers expands frontier, Seals mega acquisition

Poised to expand its frontier as a market leading player across the African continent, Casers group, a leading integrated marketing communications company, has successfully acquired Mawal, the leading marketing communications network in French and Central Africa. With the acquisition of Mawal, the first of its kind by a Nigerian IMC company, Casers’ capacity would be immensely strengthened, ensuring the deployment of resources that will deliver unquantifiable value to clients.

Announcing the definitive merger agreement between the two firms at a press conference recently, the Chairman, Casers Group, Mr. Enyi Odigbo, said the acquisition has solidified the company’s status as a marketing communications agency ready to offer services to existing and prospective clients irrespective of regional boundaries.

He said, “Casers Group is now an unmatched solution for any multinational brand looking for world-class service delivery throughout West and Central Africa- to either launch or extend within the region. This strategic combination eliminates the need for businesses who require a regional marketing communications solution to seek partners on a country by country basis, which often results in disparate service levels, in terms of quality and resource deployment.”

The merger, according to the Chairman, was fostered by the need to harmonise its operations in the region following the successful DDB led partnership of the group. He also noted that the company’s relationship with MTN for the past four years provided the impetus needed to excise complications associated with pacts of this magnitude.

“This merger has developed out of the successful DDB led partnership of Casers Group, Mawal Group, and Innova DDB in partnering with MTN, the largest mobile telecoms operator in the Middle East and Africa. The opportunity to partner MTN for the past four years throughout the region provided the learning curve needed to drastically reduce the teething problems associated with deals of this nature”, Odigbo explained.

The Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, BayoAdekanmbi, was quoted to have said that the merger is a commendable feat in Casers’ quest to deliver solutions to the increasing market opportunities in West and Central Africa. He added that the IMC Company’s relationship and experience with MTN will be an added advantage to leverage on in leap-frogging the challenges of the West and Central Africa region with speed, precision and effectiveness.

Meanwhile, with the merger accomplished and integration process on-going, the Founder and Executive Chairperson, Mawal Group, Mrs Mareme Malong, will retire but will continue to act as an adviser to the board.

As a result of this acquisition, Casers Group now offers IMC services through the following platforms; advertising- DDB and BBDO, media- Capital Media, NEXUS and Space, digital communications- Mobius, production- WOW, experiential marketing- ACTIV8, and design and brand consultancy- MAGENTA.

Casers Group was established in 1987 as a strategic marketing communication and media investment with interest in a diverse portfolio of businesses in the integrated marketing communication industry. The group boasts of a rich repertoire of global and regional clients such as Diaego, Visa, Unilever, Pernod Ricard, MTN, The Global Fund, GCB, and NHIS amongst a host of others.