Accenture Song acquires Whalar in what founder calls the largest transaction in the creator economy

Accenture Song announced on 8 June 2026 it will acquire Whalar, the creator and social agency, from Whalar Group, in a deal that marks the ninth influencer marketing acquisition of the year and the entry of a major consulting firm into scaled creator infrastructure.

Whalar, the agency division of Whalar Group, will move to Accenture Song along with its 170-person team, including co-CEOs Jo Cronk and Emma Harman. The agency has managed more than $600 million in creator campaigns across 40 countries and 15 languages since its founding.

The remainder of Whalar Group, comprising talent management firm Sixteenth, technology platform Foam, venture arm Moby Ventures, The Lighthouse, and The Business of Creativity, stays with co-founders Neil Waller and James Street. A three-year commercial partnership will give Accenture Song clients access to those businesses.

(Image Caption: Left to right: Whalar Co-CEO Emma Harman, Accenture Song CEO Ndidi Oteh, Whalar Co-CEO Jo Cronk)

What moves to Accenture

Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions.

Waller told Scalable Pod the transaction was the largest transaction in the creator economy. The IAB projects US creator economy ad spend will reach $43.9 billion in 2026.

Consulting firms have historically sat outside the creator economy, but the convergence of brand strategy and social commerce has put creator programmes onto the agenda of large enterprise clients. 

Accenture’s play for always-on infrastructure

Accenture Song’s prior acquisitions of Unlimited and Superdigital built out social capabilities; Whalar adds the operational infrastructure to run always-on creator programmes at enterprise scale rather than discrete campaign bursts. That recurring programme model is where the margin sits for agencies competing against holding companies. 

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The deal also reflects a broader consulting firm land-grab: Deloitte and BCG have published creator economy research, and McKinsey appointed creator economy senior advisor Monica Khan earlier this year. Whalar Group’s own financials, it reported operating losses of over £9 million on revenue of £110 million in 2024 suggest selling the agency arm funds continued investment in the group’s higher-margin software and infrastructure plays.

What this means for independent and regional agencies

Accenture Song operates its marketing services operations in India, serving multinational and domestic enterprise clients. The acquisition gives it a creator agency capability it did not previously have at scale, which changes its competitive position against holding company networks (WPP, Publicis, IPG) already running influencer practices here. 

For independent Indian influencer agencies, consolidation of this kind shrinks the pool of enterprise briefs available to non-network shops: large clients with existing Accenture relationships will now be offered a creator capability in-house.

Author

Krati Darak

Krati Darak is the Senior Editor at The Creator Index, where she leads everything editorial, from coverage decisions and story direction to the voice of India's first dedicated creator economy publication. She's spent over five years in digital media and has done a bit of everything — at Thomson Reuters, she covered legal news, deals, appointments, and rankings. At LBB, she pretty much led Mumbai coverage, digging up the city's hidden gems (if you've found one through them, there's a good chance she wrote about it). She's also worked as a commerce editor at StyleCraze and has written for D2C beauty brands like Foxtale, WOW Skin Science, SkinQ, and more.