MUMBAI: Publicis Groupe has acquired a controlling stake in New York-based social media agency, Big Fuel.

As per the agreement, Publicis will start off with 51 per cent and have the option of gobbling it up entirely from 2014.

The agency will be aligned under the VivaKi organization and serve as a strategic social media center for the VivaKi agencies like Digitas, Razorfish, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia. It will report into the VivaKi organisation through Laura Lang, global CEO of Digitas and member of the VivaKi board of directors. 
 
Laura Lang said, "Big Fuel is a dynamic social media agency with a scalable model that encompasses social tools, process, a content studio and a distribution network. As a result, it will extend the creative and content resourcing of Digitas and Razorfish. They specialize in taking brands from content to commerce, and their social media operating system has earned them Social AOR status with some of the world‘s most powerful marketers. Sitting inside VivaKi, with its powerful media and digital agency networks, Big Fuel gives us unprecedented Paid, Owned and Earned capabilities, further enhancing the social media strategies of its sister agencies."

Big Fuel is headed by CEO Jon Bond, who runs the agency in partnership with founding partner and chief creative officer Avi Savar, and managing partner and COO Mike McGraw,

According to Jon Bond, the deal will help support Big Fuel’s rapid organic growth. "Big Fuel‘s founder Avi Savar had the vision to create one of the first full-service social media agencies. Now that social is revolutionizing global marketing, this partnership gives the agency and its clients scale, impact, and a network around the world," he said.