The Melbourne firm moved into Bangkok in April ahead of the expected acquisition of Devsenses, said Excel chief executive Ken Williams.
The deal for the software and mobile applications developer was sealed on 1 May, he added.
Williams told ProPrint that Excel was eyeing up software development firms and data processing firms throughout the region – and that another acquisition would likely be made in 2013. There are also plans to open marketing offices in the US and Europe, he added.
Excel has tier one clients in Australia, New Zealand, China, Singapore, Thailand, the UK and continental Europe, he said.
The company has 67 staff – 30 in Australia and 37 in Thailand – and another 30 will be recruited in Thailand in the coming year, he said.
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About 30% of turnover comes from print and about 50% of total revenue is generated in Australia, he said. Print volumes will rise but print's share of revenue will fall; Australian revenue will also grow but its share will drop to 20% by the end of the year, he said.
Williams said Excel's strategy was to position itself as a "marketing communications company" with clients throughout the world.
He said Excel had spent the past decade evolving from a printer into a multichannel marketer. Some campaigns are now exclusively electronic – and when they do include production, the print is always carefully targeted, he said.
"We're passionate about printing and certainly not taking our foot off the pedal, far from it. But technology very much goes hand in hand with future print," he said.
Williams said Gen Y consumers were "the most marketing savvy generation" in history and would only respond to tailored campaigns. "That's where the great opportunity for print is."
He also said that being at the forefront of the next big ideas in software and mobile technologies would generate more opportunities for printed marketing.
"People talk about our industry as one that's going away, but it's probably one that's more exciting than it's ever been," he said.
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