Rather than be a small fish, we can be the shark of our own pond: Himanshu Arora

Having been operational for more than 15 years, LS Digital expanded its influence by incorporating three partner agencies – Langoor, F1 Studioz, and Social Panga – within the last year.

Social Panga, the latest acquisition, joins LS Digital to form India’s largest Independent integrated digital marketing services group for the global market. This move will enable the group to further strengthen its solution-driven digital marketing transformation offerings, unlocking value for marketers looking for creativity and operational efficiencies in their growth path.

In a release issued, Prasad Shejale, CEO & Founder, LS Digital, had commented, “Social Panga will give the group an extra edge to our robust digital marketing transformation services. We share a common vision of building this group for the globe with Indian roots. This further enhances our capabilities post Langoor Digital and F1 Studioz joined the group last year. I extend a warm welcome to the Social Panga team and I am very excited about the next phase of growth with them.”

In a free flowing interaction with Adgully, Himanshu Arora, Co-founder, Social Panga, speaks about merging with LS Digital, the kind of synergies that both partners bring to the combined entity, leadership roles, long-term vision, and more.

What was the idea behind merging with LS Digital?

We are nine years into the business, with about 350-plus ‘Mafias’ – as we like to call ourselves – doing decently okay. As a founder, the high that we get is obviously from building something from scratch and taking that to the next level. So, we eventually thought that rather than be a small fish in the bigger pond, we can be the shark of our own pond. With that simple thought process, we started on this journey, where we are masters of our own destiny. We are not adapting to some other culture, but making our own culture and taking it to the next level.

What synergies do you anticipate as a result of this collaboration between Social Panga and LS Digital? How will it benefit your clients and the industry as a whole?

I will divide it into three different parts. The first one is short-term synergy, which involves the things that we can work upon that have complementary skill sets, because all the four partners have their own set of offerings. They are experts in that space. This is not an offering which is just on pen or on a Google slide. It is a reality. They are running their own set of delivering solutions and their specific capacity. How we can integrate with respect to having complementary skill sets and build as a holistic solution, forming the short-term synergy.

The second synergy is when you are building something together, and you are looking to build something large, there is a larger goal post. This involves building solutions for the global market and not being restricted to only India. A few of the partners in the group already have a global presence. Thus, it is about leveraging the global footprints and going to the next level.

The third synergy is a pretty interesting one. In order to go global, you need to understand the cultural nuances, specifically in the creative space, and for that you need to build up on something which is based on observation and insight. So, from a long-term point of view, it is about building the right talent. Already there are talent from India that are doing some fabulous work which is getting recognised at the global stage.

What will the leadership roles be in this combined entity?

Every set-up will work on their own. So for Social Panga, all the four set-ups will work on their own, there will be no changes. However, at the same time, each of the four set-ups is very different. From a leadership point of view, there is a two-layer approach. The first is about the approach to how we can develop our culture and how we can develop what we are already offering. Second layer is roadmapping it with the larger vision of the group.

What is your long-term vision now that you are a part of LS Digital? Does it remain the same or has evolved?

The long-term vision will work the way it is working, nothing changes on that front. It just adds a lot of new perspectives to it with respect to how we can complement our skill sets, how we can have a global aspiration on top of it, while at the same time how we can build one of the India’s first global group or network. We are one of the building blocks out there. So, from a Social Panga point of view, nothing changes.