• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 29, 2007

Dentsu America has purchased digital and design shop Attik. The San Francisco-based shop is expected to remain a separate operating unit within the Japanese agency's domestic operations.

Perhaps best known for launching Toyota's Scion brand stateside in 2003, Attik was founded in 1986 by Simon Needham and James Sommerville in their hometown of Huddersfield, England. Its other clients include Boost cell phones, ExpressJet, and in the U.K., Coca-Cola and Adidas.

Attik's management team is expected to remain in place, and the company will continue to be headquartered in San Francisco. Its West Hollywood, Calif. office will move into Dentsu's Santa Monica, Calif. location, and in New York, the agency's operations will be moved to Dentsu's New York office.

Dentsu, easily the largest ad agency in Japan--the world's second-largest ad market after the U.S.--has spent a good deal of time rearranging and consolidating its assets this year.

In March, the Santa Monica office of Colby & Partners--a subsidiary of Dentsu Holdings--was absorbed by Dentsu America and combined with its existing office in Marina Del Rey. The office will be renamed Dentsu America Los Angeles.

In addition, the Orange County, Calif. and New York City offices of Colby & Partners will be reorganized with a new Dentsu brand name, under the leadership of Paul Katzka, president of the Orange County office. The as-yet-unnamed agency will handle the Suzuki and Sharp accounts.

Moving in the opposite direction, several U.S. agencies have sought toeholds in Japan through investments in Dentsu-owned properties. This summer, aQuantive agency Avenue A/Razorfish--now owned by Microsoft--secured a 19.4% stake in Dentsu's digital agency Digital Palette. In turn, Dentsu agreed to change Digital Palette's name to Dentsu Avenue A/Razorfish.

In addition, 24/7 Real Media--now owned by WPP Group--maintains an ongoing relationship with Dentsu. 24/7--which also recently opened its first Asian office in Seoul, South Korea, through its joint venture with Dentsu--sees great potential for growth outside the U.S.

"We are positioning 24/7 Real Media to be a significant beneficiary of the strong growth that is projected over the upcoming decade for many markets throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim," David Moore, chairman and chief executive officer of 24/7 Real Media, said in a recent earnings report.

This week's move closely follows a decision by Publicis Groupe earlier this month to restructure its operations in Japan. As part of the process, Publicis Japan consolidated most of its operations into Beacon Communications KK, a joint venture with Dentsu. The move enabled Publicis Japan clients to utilize the resources of Beacon, one of Japan's top 10 shops.