Design agency Diadeis acquires Kong Rex

By picking up the Brazilian firm, graphics services company Diaeis is expanding its global footprint as well as jockeying to work with leading beauty and personal care companies investing in South America.

Diadeis has grown by leaps and bounds over the past several years through acquisitions and has become a notable premedia agency in the process. In 2009 the company bought both Graphotec and Noelink. More recently, Diadeis acquired P’Référence and Alia, and it picked up the US-based creative production agency Graphic Systems Group in 2014.

And prior to this latest acquisition, the company boasted 55,000 packaging projects, 7,000 marketing operations and 700,000 pages produced annually. Now, the agency is looking to serve US brands already in the area.

“Establishing an office in Brazil gives us several key benefits. First, it gives us a better way to service US companies that are increasingly investing in this region. Our Sao Paulo office also serves as a gateway to the growing Latin America market,” confirms Jean-Charles Morisseau, president of Diadeis.

More is more

The company already works with industry players like Unilever and L’Oreal, while Kong Rex counts Avon among its clients.

Combining Diadeis’s design, mechanicals, pre-press and comps capabilities for packaging, POS or multi-channel publishing with Kong Rex’s branding, package design and mechanicals, and editorial creation, the company will offer more comprehensive graphic management  services to customers like those.

Kong Rex also brings valuable local know-how to the mix. “Their local expertise, extensive knowledge about Brazilian consumer habits and visual vocabulary, and a deep understanding of international markets and multinational corporate cultures make them the perfect partner for Diadeis in this country,” Thibault Jaime, Diadeis managing director for Latin America tells the press.

Now’s the time

Ingredient suppliers and cosmetics manufacturers are entering the South American market with increasing frequency.

Symrise, for instance, opened an ingredient production facility in Brazil this spring. And late last year, Evonik did the same. That company’s consumer specialties business unit leader Claus Rettig commented at the time, “Our new plant now enables us to satisfy the growing demand for local, sustainable products in South America more quickly and directly,” reported Cosmetics Design.  

On the finished goods side of the industry, Shiseio just appointed a new CEO for the America’s region, a role that includes overseeing the company’s Brazil business. While, L’Oréal recently expanded its presence in Brazil with the acquisition of the hair color company Niely Cosmeticos.

For a premedia company like Diadeis, an acquisition in the region is a smart move. “There is definitively a place in our country for a key player like Diadeis,” says Marco Aurelio Kato, founder of Kong Rex. “The [Latin American] market needs a resource that offers marketing process optimization along with design and premedia services.”