NEW YORK: Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has agreed to acquire Whalar, a leading creator and social agency, in a deal that signals a strategic push into the rapidly expanding creator economy, the companies announced Tuesday.
Whalar will become part of Accenture Song, the professional services giant’s creative and customer experience arm, adding scaled influencer and creator engagement capabilities to its growth offerings. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions.
The move comes as brands increasingly rely on creators to drive cultural relevance and commerce. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, ad spending in the U.S. creator economy is among the fastest-growing segments in media and is projected to reach $43.9 billion in 2026.
“Accenture Song exists to help the world’s most ambitious companies grow — and today, growth is inseparable from relevance,” Ndidi Oteh, CEO of Accenture Song, said in a statement. “Social is where brands are discovered, where modern commerce is happening and where consumer habits tell us what products and services are going to win next. Whalar brings a creator capability that strengthens how we drive meaningful impact and growth for clients.”
Whalar brings to the deal more than $600 million in creator campaigns and tens of thousands of collaborations across over 40 countries and 15 languages, according to the company. The agency handles thousands of creator activations annually across major platforms, generating billions of engagements and offering measurement tools that integrate with media mix modeling and third-party research.
“The creator economy demands a new kind of expertise, one that blends authentic creator relationships, deep platform knowledge, and the technology to activate both at enterprise scale,” said Dimitri Maex, global marketing practice lead at Accenture Song. “Because as the agentic economy grows, what wins won’t be the most content — it will be what is most original and the most human.”
Whalar has been recognized as the most awarded agency in social and creator marketing, with honors including Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Adweek’s Creator Agency of the Year, Campaign UK’s Agency of the Year, and Ad Age’s A-List Social/Influencer Agency of the Year.
Whalar co-CEOs Emma Harman and Jo Cronk will continue in their roles and join Accenture Song along with the agency’s more than 170 employees across the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Germany and Spain.
Whalar Group — which includes separate entities Sixteenth, Foam, Moby Ventures, The Lighthouse, and The Business of Creativity — will continue to operate independently under co-founders Neil Waller and James Street. The group has entered a three-year strategic partnership with Accenture Song focused on innovation and access to Whalar Group’s broader network.
“We’re incredibly proud of what the team has built over the past decade,” Waller and Street said in a joint statement. “Accenture Song operates at a level of scale and ambition that is truly unique, and we believe there is no better partner to take Whalar agency to its next phase of growth.”
The acquisition follows Accenture Song’s purchases of Superdigital in 2025 and Unlimited in 2024, part of a series of deals aimed at scaling its creator and social capabilities.
