AKQA

AKQA Inc.

Type	Subsidiary of WPP plc
Founded	March 2001 (2001-03) in San Francisco, USA and London, England
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Ajaz Ahmed, CEO and Founder
Services	CRM E-commerce Technology services Media, search and analytics (Digital) Business Transformation and Consulting Interface design Product development Digital content creation and distribution Social media marketing
Revenue	US$ 250 million (2012)
Number of employees	2,000
Website	akqa.com

AKQA is a digital agency that specialises in creating digital services and products. It employs 2,000 staff globally.

AKQA has offices in Europe (Amsterdam, Berlin, Gothenburg, London, Paris), North America (Atlanta, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.), South America (São Paulo), Asia (Gurgaon, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo) and Australasia (Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney).

AKQA was founded in 1994 in London by Ajaz Ahmed and James Hilton. In 2001, the company became AKQA Holdings Inc. after an investment of $70 million by Francisco Partners and Accenture, with San Francisco as its new headquarters and four offices in the UK, US and Asia. In the same year, Nike Run London, a new branded sports format with 10,000 runners taking part was launched by AKQA for Nike. A year later, in 2002, Run London sold over 20,000 places in a few hours using an e-commerce platform designed by AKQA.

In 2003, AKQA created ideashappen.com in collaboration with Visa USA and MSN. The platform asked people to submit entrepreneurial and community-based ideas. During its first month, the campaign attracted one million visitors. The agency also launched Nike Presto online with a collective of post-graffiti artists, where users could interact with art, sound and hidden animation.

In 2004, the New York office opened to increase access to East Coast clients and talent. AKQA also published AKQA Ideas: Volume 1, showcasing the agency’s work within 100 pages. The book sold out on Amazon, with proceeds for the sale donated to the NSPCC and Prince’s Trust charities.