Accenture Acquires Fiftyfive5 to Boost its Customer Intelligence Capability in Australia and New Zealand

Fiftyfive5�s deep customer understanding and insight will enhance Accenture Song’s capabilities to help clients accelerate business growth

SYDNEY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Fiftyfive5, a customer insights and advisory business. The move will strengthen Accenture Song’s (formerly Accenture Interactive) ability to help clients tap data insights and performance marketing to accelerate growth and innovation across Australia and New Zealand.

Recognized by The Research Society Australia and recently named B&T Research Agency of the Year, Fiftyfive5 has a proven track record in delivering customer insight-driven strategy, customer insight optimized execution and performance measurement for some of the region’s leading brands.

Globally, 95% of C-suite executives say that customers and employees are changing faster than they can change their business, significantly pushing the demand for new playbooks for growth. Accenture Song and Fiftyfive5 share a vision and passion for helping brands meet this new reality and capturing new opportunities for growth through insight-led strategy and decision making in anticipation of a US$28.7 billion global customer analytics market by 2026.

Mark Green, Accenture Song’s Australia and New Zealand lead, said: “Clients are struggling to keep up with the pace of change today. They are looking for creative solutions and strategic insights for growth. Fiftyfive5’s addition is timely. The team boasts powerful insights and deep customer understanding, which will significantly enhance Accenture Song’s customer intelligence capability. Importantly, Fiftyfive5 brings top talent, and we cannot wait to see what they can add to our growing team.”

Founded in 2010, Fiftyfive5 specializes in opportunity identification, brand strategy and positioning, innovation, category strategy (channel, shopper, retail & loyalty), pricing, CX and experience measurement and brand comms tracking. Fiftyfive5 works extensively with clients across health & public services, consumer goods & services, financial services, communications & media, travel, digital and technology. Its team of more than 200 people across Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and London will join Accenture Song and build upon Accenture’s world-class strategy, design, performance, technology and large-scale operations capabilities to better serve clients.

Mark Sundquist, managing partner of Fiftyfive5, said: “Accenture Song is one of the most interesting businesses that’s emerged in our space — a combination of creativity, technology and data. We have a shared belief in the importance of customer insight and intelligence to underpin strategy, creativity and execution to fuel growth for our clients. Joining Accenture Song creates an exciting new opportunity for our team and the chance to deliver greater commercial impact for clients given the enhanced range of capability we can bring to the table.”

Jatinder Singh, Accenture Song’s global head of data and analytics, said: “Clients globally are reevaluating how they grow and they are increasingly challenged by the speed of change. Intelligence will become the engine brands need to become relevant to their customers. Having insights that can support brand creative, content, and experience strategy and operations will be essential. Fiftyfive5 adds to Accenture Song’s credentials to help our clients drive growth through customer data and insight.”

The acquisition of Fiftyfive5 is in line with Accenture Song’s strategy to deepen its broad, scalable set of capabilities across product innovation, commerce, marketing, sales and service to help clients unify purpose and customer experience for sustainable growth as customers’ lives are ever-changing and constantly influenced by external forces.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture’s results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and political conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture’s business depends on generating and maintaining client demand for the company’s services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company’s results of operations; if Accenture is unable to match people and their skills with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture faces legal, reputational and financial risks from any failure to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; Accenture’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments and disclosures may expose it to reputational risks and legal liability; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key ecosystem partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture’s profitability could materially suffer if the company is unable to obtain favorable pricing for its services and solutions, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture’s level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; as a result of Accenture’s geographically diverse operations and strategy to continue to grow in key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; Accenture’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture’s global operations expose the company to numerous and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory requirements; Accenture’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture’s services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.

About Accenture

Accenture is a global professional services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting, Technology and Operations services and Accenture Song — all powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. Our 721,000 people deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change to create value and shared success for our clients, people, shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com.

Accenture Song accelerates growth and value for our clients through sustained customer relevance. Our capabilities span ideation to execution: growth, product and experience design; technology and experience platforms; creative, media and marketing strategy; and campaign, commerce transformation content and channel orchestration. With strong client relationships and deep industry expertise, we help our clients operate at the speed of life through the unlimited potential of imagination, technology and intelligence.

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Contacts

Madeline Atkins

Accenture

+61 418 659 968

m.atkins@accenture.com

Sieu Ping Low

Accenture Song

+65 8182 8545

low.sieu.ping@accenture.com