Tag: WPP

Singapore – WPP has announced a global partnership with Roblox, building on several years of collaboration on interactive 3D brand content and advertising. The alliance will help scale expertise among agency teams and brands in leveraging Roblox as a new media channel.

Through the partnership, WPP and its media investment company, GroupM, will join the official Roblox Partner Program as an agency partner to work directly with Roblox to establish a long-term measurement advisory relationship, shaping the future of the brand ecosystem on the platform and setting new standards for 3D environments and immersive media. 

Roblox will also develop innovative ways for WPP’s creative agencies to utilise Roblox’s platform as a creative engine and partner with Roblox creators.

In addition, WPP and Roblox will also work together to pilot a first-of-its-kind Roblox certification program for marketers to deepen their expertise in the platform’s ecosystem. The multi-module training course will be developed for both creative and media agencies, with WPP team members being the first to get certified on Roblox’s platform.

The partnership builds on a longstanding foundation of work that WPP and Roblox have developed together on behalf of global clients including adidas, Church & Dwight, Danone, Nickelodeon and Paramount. Going forward, WPP and Roblox will host a series of client sprint days that bring together experienced Roblox community creators, developer studios and agency strategists to develop a unique activation in one business day.

Tapping into Roblox’s nearly 80 million daily active users and WPP’s extensive experience in the gaming sector, the collaboration includes a broad scope of initiatives from offering Roblox sprint days to a joint advisory council to advance 3D measurement and Roblox platform education, with the aim of pushing the boundaries of creativity on Roblox like never before.

Rob Reilly, chief creative officer at WPP, said, “Roblox is an amazing platform for brands to engage creatively with a young, expanding and valuable audience. By merging WPP’s creative firepower with Roblox’s innovative environment, we will continue to invent new and exciting ways for brands to connect with the next generation of consumers. Buckle up.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Latham, VP of global brand partnerships and advertising at Roblox, commented, “We’re excited to partner with WPP to push the boundaries of brand creativity on Roblox. This alliance will enable brands to harness our platform’s unique capabilities and connect with our incredible community, driving forward new standards in immersive media and delivering exceptional experiences for a diverse and engaged audience.”

Lastly, Andrew Meaden, global head of investment at GroupM, stated, “Roblox has redefined the way young people interact with the world and discover new products and ideas. We are looking forward to partnering with such an important platform to shape the future of media investment, measurement, and brand engagement in virtual worlds and help our clients navigate this exciting new frontier.”

New York, USA – Global communications firm Burson has announced the launch of ‘Decipher Health,’ its new cognitive artificial intelligence (AI) offering designed to optimize communications impact and stakeholder engagement across patient, advocate, healthcare provider, health decision makers and analyst communities. 

This is the third AI offering of its kind from Burson and a key addition to the growing capability within PR Studio in WPP Open, WPP’s intelligent marketing operating system powered by AI.

‘Decipher Health’ by Burson has trained cognitive AI models on a broad spectrum of disease areas, including general health, oncology, neurology, diabetes, respiratory, and sexual health. It integrates predictive believability and virality indicators. The result is a robust framework for forecasting the potential impact of different types of content across healthcare-focused audience segments that is based on observable, repeatable data. 

Moreover, the solution–created in partnership with cognitive AI company Limbik–makes predictions about communications impact by determining an audience’s level of commitment to a particular topic and the believability of online content related to that topic. 

As part of WPP Open, ‘Decipher Health’ will be made available to all WPP healthcare clients and is the latest innovation for Health@WPP.

In addition to message testing, ‘Decipher Health’ tracks the impact of a variety of global macro themes that can affect the healthcare system, including: The economy; drug costs, pricing and access; supply chain; DEI; sustainability; elections; reproductive rights; women’s health and armed conflict.

Chad Latz, chief innovation officer at Burson, said, “The volume of information in the healthcare space can be both daunting and riddled with inaccuracies for people who are searching for material on a particular disease or therapeutic area. We created this capability to predict with near certainty the potential for impact – including credibility and engagement – that content can have on a wide range of healthcare-specific audiences. This ensures we can help our clients cut through with communications and marketing that build their reputations, but also deliver valuable and effective resources across the patient journey.”

Meanwhile, Brenna Terry, global chair for healthcare at Burson, commented, “What makes this such an extraordinary tool is the depth of our audience modeling. Our patient audience is segmented beyond typical demographics to include a wide range of social determinants that can make people more – or less – likely to be susceptible to a disease and receptive to information. Drilling down to such a precise level ensures that we reach the right people at the right time with precisely the right content.”

She added, “Decipher Health allow us to analyze gaps in message uptake among different critical healthcare stakeholders. What resonates with a patient is different than what will make an impact with a physician or an analyst. With WPP Open, we can forecast what works well with each audience and then develop compelling content that facilitates high-impact communications with all stakeholder groups. We now have instant market research right at our fingertips.” 

Vietnam – L’Oréal Vietnam has selected WPP’s Onefluence as its full-service influencer marketing agency under a three-year retainer agreement, underscoring the beauty giant’s dedication to leveraging brand advocacy as a strategic driver for business growth.

Powered by VML’s ClickMedia and GroupM’s Mindshare in Vietnam, Onefluence is a bespoke agency solution designed to elevate L’Oréal’s influencer marketing strategy.

Following a rigorous pitching process, Onefluence secured the win as VML and Mindshare showcased a deep, nuanced understanding of the Vietnamese influencer market, backed by comprehensive audience insights and a strong command of emerging trends.

With a data-driven approach focused on performance management and analysis at every stage, the agencies will collaborate closely with L’Oréal Vietnam to deliver strategic and impactful influencer campaigns.

Additionally, a dedicated team of experts from L’Oréal Vietnam and WPP’s Onefluence, including local and regional specialists, will unite to form the WPP Beauty Tech Lab. This team will work seamlessly across agency-client boundaries to elevate their influencer marketing efforts. 

Matthieu Guerin, chief digital marketing officer at L’Oréal Vietnam, said, “In today’s dynamic landscape, advocacy has become a critical element for success, especially for the beauty industry. We are confident that this partnership will enable L’Oréal Vietnam to strengthen and accelerate our advocacy performance, drive advocacy strategy that connects with consumers in innovative and authentic ways, and drive strong love of our brands.”

Ha Nguyen, CEO of VML Vietnam, added, “We are thrilled to partner with L’Oréal Vietnam, a leader in beauty innovation. By bringing together our expansive capability suite in strategic thinking and creativity with our expertise in innovative technology, we will empower L’Oréal Vietnam to achieve its influencer marketing goals.”

This partnership represents a major milestone for L’Oréal Vietnam, VML, and Mindshare, reinforcing their shared commitment to shaping the future of influencer marketing in Vietnam.

New York, USA – Following their partnership launch last year, GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has fully integrated SeenThis’ adaptive streaming technology into its carbon calculator tool, resulting in carbon emission reductions equivalent to charging over 15 million smartphones.

Through their collaboration, GroupM and its agencies have utilised SeenThis’ expertise and proprietary technology to manage and minimise carbon emissions while enhancing the performance of display advertising campaigns.

SeenThis’ technology minimises data waste by transferring data only for visible creative assets, which enhances user engagement and reduces the number of impressions needed to achieve campaign goals. This approach also lowers CO2e emissions, as it reduces the energy required across the internet supply chain.

Last year, the global partnership reduced over 230 tonnes of CO2e emissions, equivalent to charging more than 15 million smartphones. According to GroupM, approximately 260 of its advertisers across 28 markets have benefited from this technology, simultaneously enhancing the performance of their digital ads.

With SeenThis technology fully integrated into GroupM’s carbon calculator, advertisers can now evaluate optimisation impacts during pre-campaign planning. This integration highlights GroupM’s ability to scale successful trials into repeatable processes. 

Furthermore, as industry interest grows and standardised metrics become more crucial, GroupM’s focus is on embedding this technology into ongoing campaigns to enhance business outcomes and reduce carbon intensity.

Commenting on the partnership, Kieley Taylor, global head of partnerships at GroupM, said, “In 2023, we set out in partnership with SeenThis to minimise emissions using data from our partners. One year on, we are achieving what we said we would do, building on our global framework for media decarbonization. The success of this partnership marks an important step in our commitment to decarbonise our media supply chain, and the more advertisers opt into SeenThis, the more they can drive positive results across both emissions and performance.” 

Thomas Bowens, global agency director at SeenThis, also said, “Our partnership is one of the first examples of a vendor providing an immediate turn-key solution to enable GroupM to deliver CO2e reductions while enhancing the user experience. We’re thrilled that GroupM is focused on the combination of minimising emissions while maximising performance and is embracing the use of SeenThis data to share this insight with their advertisers to encourage lower carbon cost of business outcomes.”

Singapore – Global communications agency Burson, formed from the merger of WPP’s BCW and Hill & Knowlton, has announced a series of strategic appointments to its Asia-Pacific leadership team, aimed at enhancing its presence and capabilities in the region.

In Singapore, Cindy Lim is appointed as the new chief executive officer. Prior to her appointment, Lim was BCW’s CEO and market leader in Singapore. Joining her is Rikki Jones, who will take on a dual role as CEO for Burson Group Singapore and president for GCI Health Asia-Pacific. 

Burson also named Claire Li as the new CEO for Greater China. Li was formerly with Starbucks China as its vice president for communications before joining Hill & Knowlton in 2023 as its CEO for Greater China. Meanwhile, Tsuyoshi Takemura will take on the role of CEO for Burson Japan. 

Marianne Admardatine, from Hill & Knowlton, will now serve as the CEO of Burson Indonesia. Also from Hill & Knowlton, Justin Then is named the new CEO of Burson Malaysia. 

In Thailand, Burson has named Wachiraporn Pornpitayalert as its new market leader. She previously served as the managing director for Hill & Knowlton Thailand. 

On the other hand, Deepshikha Dharmaraj from BCW will also serve as the new CEO of Burson Group India. And Tom Horn, who served as the corporate practice director for Australia and New Zealand at BCW Global, will take on the new role of market leader for Burson ANZ. 

HS Chung will also continue to lead Burson Korea as CEO, in addition to her role as North APAC CEO.

Commenting on the appointments, Chung said, “In today’s fast-evolving environment, clients need the best talent and capabilities to solve their most complex challenges. With our extensive footprint and reach across APAC, clients will gain access to a diverse team of specialists with decades of experience building and protecting reputations for multinational businesses in Asia and Asian enterprises overseas.”

Adrian Warr, South APAC CEO at Burson, also shared, “Innovation and creativity are at the heart of our commitment to delivering unparalleled value for our clients in APAC. Our world-class talent will lead through exceptional creative thinking and bring innovation into action to build reputation capital as a competitive advantage for our clients, today and into the future.” 

These appointments come in the wake of this year’s merger, where WPP combined its communications agencies, Hill+Knowlton and BCW, to form Burson. This union leverages the unparalleled talent, extensive global networks, advanced technology investments, creative capabilities, and public affairs and advisory expertise of both organisations to drive reputation enhancement and value creation.

Singapore – Global creative transformation company WPP has teamed up with global technology company IBM to launch a new business-to-business (B2B) solution powered by IBM’s AI and data platform watsonx designed to reinvent how B2B marketers identify and engage clients and prospects across the buying journey. 

The ‘WPP Open for B2B’ solution will help marketers solve complex B2B marketing challenges, accurately identify and engage buying groups, and improve clients’ return on investment. 

These buying groups are made up of multiple stakeholders with different priorities who influence key purchasing decisions both inside and outside of organizations, which can make it difficult to deliver a consistent message over a long sales period. Traditionally, understanding how to adjust that message across the right channels to guide buying groups to purchase is challenging and often leads to inefficient marketing spend. 

Moreover, WPP and IBM will strategically collaborate with LinkedIn to help brands better understand buying groups so they can market more effectively and reach target buyers.

The solution has a capability called ‘AI-powered Buying Group Brain™’ a WPP AI model that can more accurately identify target buying groups in a B2B client account, built with IBM watsonx.ai and trained on trustworthy data from the client and third parties through IBM watsonx.data. It can also inform how marketers deliver personalized and consistent experiences across channels and across the duration of a long-term influencer campaign. 

It also has the Chief Marketing Officer command center, an AI assistant that serves as a command center for CMOs, bringing forward data and insights and connecting underlying systems so senior marketers can plan and model scenarios, predict results, make more data-driven decisions and execute recommended actions.

Stephan Pretorius, chief technology officer at WPP, said, “Our clients want to get in front of the right people, at the right time, on the right channels, with the right message. However, most solutions in the market today are designed for consumer marketing, targeted at sole decision-makers at a single point of purchase. WPP Open for B2B, and our collaboration with IBM and LinkedIn, will help solve some incredibly complex challenges in the B2B marketing space, using the best of WPP and IBM technology and expertise.”

Meanwhile, Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM, said, “B2B marketers have been focused on creating truly personalised, relevant and consistent experiences for buying groups at scale for years. Our collaboration with WPP and LinkedIn provides real-time, actionable insights that are based on trusted data. We are excited to create and use these new, powerful and trusted AI solutions to deliver a force multiplier for B2B marketing.”

Lastly, Penry Price, vice president at LinkedIn, commented, “With success in B2B requiring customers to reach between 6 to 10 stakeholders, building relationships and ‘collective confidence’ among the entire buyer group is key. We are looking forward to working with WPP and IBM to determine how our unique knowledge of buyer groups can help inform WPP Open for B2B and help clients deliver more effective advertising campaigns.”

Singapore – Global advertising holding company WPP has announced yet another merger, as it announced the merger of communications agencies Hill+Knowlton and BCW to create Burson, aimed at becoming a full-service communications agency focused on building and protecting reputation.

The new merger comes on the back of yet another merger between VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson to create VML.

Corey duBrowa, currently global CEO of BCW, has been named global CEO of Burson and AnnaMaria DeSalva, currently, global chairman and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, has been named global chairman of Burson. 

Together, they will oversee agency strategy, client service, employee experience and culture. Burson will be operational from 1 July 2024, and its new brand will be unveiled later this year.

According to WPP, this union of agencies will enable Burson to best serve clients in a complex and volatile environment in which strategic stakeholder communications has never been more critical. 

Moreover, WPP notes that the new agency will draw on both organisations’ unrivaled talent base, exceptional global networks, investments in technology, creative capabilities, and public affairs and advisory specialities to drive reputation and value creation through the interdisciplinary solutions that clients demand.

Speaking on the merger, duBrowa said, “Harold Burson believed strongly that actions are stronger than words, and he established honesty, transparency, integrity and excellence as the guiding principles of his business. Those principles are the foundational ideals of Burson, upon which we will set the bar for modern communications through our AI-first innovation pipeline..”

He added, “Together as Burson, we will bring insights, expert strategic counsel and technology solutions into a higher value offering for our clients to help them innovate and lead in today’s complex operating environment.”

Meanwhile, DeSalva commented, “The combination of Hill & Knowlton and BCW is highly synergistic, creating a premier partner for business leaders who are focused on commercial growth, risk management, and reputational capital. Our body of work increasingly demonstrates that strategic communication, elevated by creativity, is a primary force for sustainable value creation.”

She added, “By accelerating our transformation through this combination, we will enable the investments in talent and technology that advance communications leadership when it has never mattered more.”

Burson’s leadership team will comprise a cohort of top-tier former chief communications officers and other experienced agency senior executives from both companies who bring deep expertise and knowledge of what business leaders need to succeed. Appointments will be announced throughout 2024 as the integration progresses.

In addition, GCI Health and AxiCom will continue to operate as brands within Burson, offering specialised healthcare and technology communications expertise, respectively, at scale.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, stated, “Hill & Knowlton and BCW are two high-performing businesses with complementary strengths, shared ambitions and many shared clients. I am delighted to see the Burson brand brought back to unite them. The new agency will be the standard bearer as the most modern, strategic, technology-driven, full-service communications offer in the industry.”

APAC– VML has announced the appointment of a new in-market leadership team for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. 

The announcement comes as Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R, both WPP creative firms, join together to form VML.

With more than 5000 workers spread across 25 offices in 13 APAC markets, the newly designed organisation hopes to provide improved service for VML’s clientele all throughout the area. It includes industry professionals with deep local knowledge and broad experience in commerce, brand experience, and customer experience.

In APAC, VML works with a wide range of customer partners in several different industries. Ford, The Coca-Cola Company, HSBC, Unilever, Nestle, GSK, Zespri, and other companies are among its clientele.

With principal offices in Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai and Sydney and led by the newly appointed VML APAC Co-CEOs Audrey Kuah and Yi-Chung Tay, the reorganisation includes naming regional market leaders, which will take effect on January 1, 2024.

In Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), Tom Tearle, CEO of VMLY&R ANZ, becomes CEO of VML ANZ, while Gavin Bain, CEO of Wunderman Thompson Australia, becomes VML Chief consulting officer, ANZ, and managing director, Perth, Australia.

In Singapore, Wunderman Thompson CEO Nimesh Desai has been named VML CEO for the region. Rhys Taylor, who is currently the managing director of VMLY&R in Singapore, takes on the role of VML chief client officer, focusing on assuring the delivery of VML’s full spectrum of capabilities to clients.

In Indonesia, Wunderman Thompson CEO Samir Gupte has been named CEO of VML Indonesia.

In Malaysia, Kenni Loh, CEO of VMLY&R Malaysia, has been appointed CEO of VML Malaysia.

Golda Roldan, CEO of Wunderman Thompson Philippines, has been appointed CEO of VML Philippines. 

Wunderman Thompson Thailand’s CEO, Parattajariya Jalayanteja, has been appointed CEO of VML Thailand.

Ha Nguyen, who is the CEO of VMLY&R in Vietnam at the moment, has been chosen to be CEO of VML Vietnam.

Kevin Zhu, who is the CEO of VMLY&R China at the moment, has been appointed as the CEO of VML China. Wunderman Thompson for Greater China CEO Carter Chow takes on the role of president at VML China.

Maggie Wong, CEO of Wunderman Thompson, has been appointed CEO of VML Hong Kong.

Ichiro Ota, the current CEO of VML & Ogilvy Japan, will remain in his position, while Akira Suzuki, the CEO of Wunderman Thompson Japan, will take over as COO of VML Japan.

Even Teng, the CEO of Wunderman Thompson Taiwan, has been named as the CEO of VML Taiwan. 

VML India is a principal office and regarded as an important market for the agency, prioritising the hiring of capable executives to direct their teams for the benefit of employees and clients. The announcement of India’s leadership is slated for the first quarter of 2024.

Speaking about the multiple appointments, Audrey Kuah, Co-CEO, VML APAC, commented, “We are thrilled to introduce our new APAC leadership team, who represent the cream-of-the-crop across two of the most awarded creative agencies in the region. As we unify our storied agencies, there is an exciting opportunity to redefine the possibilities of creativity and set the stage for more innovative and effective work.”

Meanwhile, Yi-Chung Tay, Co-CEO, VML APAC, said, “At VML we are dedicated to creating connected brands which matter to the consumer and drive growth for our client partners. Working closely with our leaders across our APAC network, we are well positioned to provide the best possible solutions to our clients’ most pressing business problems via an integrated suite of capabilities which are unsurpassed in the region.” 

London, England – GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has announced its appointment as global media partner of record to international financial services provider Allianz Group to service the account on both a global and market-by-market basis.

In this appointment, GroupM will have full responsibility for Allianz’s full-funnel media strategy, planning, buying, and campaign execution.

Multiple agencies under GroupM will work together to service Allianz Group, with global media and marketing services company Mindshare taking the helm and leading the business globally and in two-thirds of its markets.

On the other hand, the global media, commerce, and content agency mSix&Partners will support Allianz’s business in their main headquarters in Germany, while marketing agency EssenceMediacom will continue to service Allianz in nine international markets where it was the incumbent.

Allianz’s decision to select GroupM and its agencies’ comes down to the group’s ability to coordinate effective and consistent media performance globally while delivering deep market-level expertise to help local teams navigate market-level complexity.

The media investment group is set to handle an account that serves more than 122 million customers in over 70 countries and is operating under a global ‘One Brand Strategy’.

Dr. Christian Deuringer, head of global brand management and marketing at Allianz SE, said, “With the new partnership, we are able to deploy our one-brand strategy perfectly and connect with our customers in an even more relevant way across the entire customer journey. The new set-up combines the strengths of globally managed strategies with tailored roll-outs in local markets. We also expect significant synergies through more standardised processes and performance measurement.”

Adam Gerhart, global CEO at Mindshare, also said, “Millions of people around the world trust Allianz to safeguard their futures for good reason. We’re excited to have the opportunity to help such a respected brand and responsible company harness the power of media to unlock new levels of growth, engagement, and marketing performance.”

London, UK – Landor & Fitch, a brand consulting firm under WPP, has announced its official rebranding as Landor as it introduces expanded consulting capabilities.

Inspired by the transformative power of water, the brand’s refreshed ultramarine identity pays tribute to the origins of the business founded by Walter Landor on a ferry boat in San Francisco harbour.

Landor’s rebranding is the result of a five-year strategy that has seen the WPP company’s consulting, design, and experience offerings expand significantly.

For the past year, Landor has bolstered its consulting capabilities with a rapidly growing brand performance practice. It also broadened its retail experience offer in 2020 with a merger with Fitch, continuing to build out its brand-led employee experience offer.

The business has welcomed into its expanding family the sonic branding agency amp, workspace and architectural design experts BDG, and motion design specialists ManvsMachine.

Jane Geraghty, group global CEO at Landor, said, “Over the last five years, our business has evolved, and our offer has expanded significantly. We’ve welcomed world-class specialists in sonic, motion, and workspace design, and today, most importantly, we have come together as one team with a shared culture. United in our drive to make a positive difference.”

Teemu Suviala, global chief creative officer at Landor, also shared, “Our new brand charts an ambitious course for our future. We use our new brand colour, the ultramarine blue, to signal the redefining of the brand and design category.”

He added, “Our design and expression capabilities are now unparalleled. For our own brand, we tapped into brilliant creative minds from around our network, just as we would do for our clients, to create a brand that comes to life in every facet—from visual and verbal to sonic and motion.”