Subsidiary of Indian IT-Services Giant Wipro Ltd. Acquires Washington-based Digital Marketing Firm

The $52M acquisition of Seattle’s Rational Interaction is designed to boost Wipro’s digital-marketing prowess.

Wipro Digital, a business unit of Bangalore, India-based global IT-services provider Wipro Ltd., is extending the Indian company’s reach into Seattle’s business community through its just-announced $52 million acquisition of Seattle digital-marketing firm Rational Interaction.

Rational Interaction, which employs some 300 people, is a full-service marketing agency providing digital, technical and consulting services to major brands globally. The company, with offices in Seattle, Bellevue, Dublin and Sydney, was founded and is led by women and bills itself as a “customer experience” (CX) company. It ranks as one of Washington’s 100 largest privately-held marketing-services firms, with clients that include Fortune 500 companies.

“As companies continue their digital transformation journeys, we see chief marketing officers [of major companies] increasingly stepping in as the leaders of these initiatives, tasked with representing the voice of the customer and ensuring that the digital transformation pays off the brand promise,” says Kahly Berg, chief executive officer of Rational Interaction, which was founded in 2009. “Wipro’s global presence and partnerships with industry leaders provides an opportunity to scale Rational Interaction’s CX offerings, building on our success in developing and launching brand-defining campaigns.”

Wipro Digital’s parent company, Wipro Ltd., is a $7 billion conglomerate and provider of technology-based business solutions, including consulting, systems integration and application development.

“This acquisition comes at a time when companies increasingly compete solely on CX [customer experience], and the market for CX spending is growing exponentially,” says Rajan Kohli, president and head of Wipro Digital and Wipro Ltd. “Discovering, refining and optimizing the customer experience, from first impression through repeat sale, requires best-in-class talent, unique marketing technologies and methodologies, and the ability to scale and demonstrate payback quickly.”

Rational Interaction plans to continue grow and expand its reach post-acquisition, “with no plans to reduce its current staff as it integrates with Wipro Digital,” the companies said in announcing the acquisition.