WPP merges Wunderman Thompson and VMLYR to create global powerhouse in VML with more than 30,000 people in 64 markets
WPP today announced a major evolution in its offering to clients with the merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R. The combined entity will be known as VML and will be the industry’s largest creative company.
VML unites two of the most awarded creative agencies in the world, each with world-class commerce, customer experience and marketing technology capabilities. VML will be equipped to support clients on creative brand growth strategy and transformation initiatives, all powered by best-in-class data operations, technology platforms and partnerships with leading technology companies. It will also provide an exceptional offer for healthcare companies and B2B marketers.
Respective client bases, functional expertise and geographic strengths mean the agencies are highly complementary and the combined company will have more than 30,000 people in 64 markets.
Jon Cook becomes VML Global CEO and Mel Edwards VML Global President (pictured), with the broader management team bringing together strong leaders from across both companies.
Says Cook: “The future of building strong brands and businesses requires the interconnectivity of brand experience, commerce and customer experiences. We recognised the immediate opportunity to create what every consultancy and advertising agency aspires to build with the formation of VML. We’re especially excited to present our new offering to the industry as we don’t believe there is another company as creatively awarded with our depth in customer experience and commerce.”
“This is the right suite of capabilities, offered at just the right moment, at unprecedented scale,” says Edwards. “It’s incredibly exciting because with this new agency we have the chance to shape the future of modern marketing in every key market around the world. The opportunities it affords our people and the growth we can deliver for our clients at a global scale make this a real game-changer for each business and the wider industry.”
Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R were launched in 2018 and have experienced sustained growth since their inception – through client development, new business and acquisitions. Each agency is globally renowned for its creativity and capabilities, with Wunderman Thompson named as Campaign’s Integrated Network of the Year and an Ad Age Standout Agency, and VMLY&R ranked #7 globally at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and #2 on the Ad Age A-List.
Their breadth of expertise has also been recognised by technology partners – including Adobe, BigCommerce, Contentful, Microsoft, Salesforce and Sitecore – and by industry analysts. Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R are among the companies recognised by the Forrester Wave™ Reports naming WPP as a ‘Leader’ in Commerce Services, Global Digital Experience Services, Global Marketing Service Providers and most recently Marketing Measurement and Optimisation.
Says Mark Read, CEO of WPP: “Scale matters in today’s world as AI and technology transform marketing and global clients look to simplify their relationships. VML will combine world-class creativity with deep expertise in data, marketing technology and platforms to deliver competitive advantage for ambitious brands. It’s another important step forward for WPP as we continue to reshape our offer for the future, simplify our business and unlock further benefits of scale.
“Separately, Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R are two of WPP’s strongest and best-performing agencies. Together, they will deliver an even wider, fully integrated suite of capabilities to our clients in every market. Marketers today expect seamless links between their brand advertising and technology solutions and platforms. VML provides an immediate solution to this business imperative.”
Immediate leadership appointments include Debbi Vandeven, Global Chief Creative Officer; Eric Campbell, Global Chief Client Officer; Juan Pablo Jurado, CEO LATAM; Ewen Sturgeon, CEO EMEA; and Audrey Kuah and Yi-Chung Tay, Co-CEOs APAC.
Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R have partnered globally across clients such as Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Microsoft, Nestlé, The Coca-Cola Company and more.
VML will be operational from 1 January 2024.
21 Comments
This will bring a whole new skill set and offering to the Perth market.
Another multinational consortium consolidating assets and offshore profits.
Missed opportunity on the acronym: WTVMLYRWPP
When you work work for a network you have no idea who you will be working for day-to-day. How can WT Perth be tout its ‘culture’ while in the span of a couple of years they’ve been 3 different agencies all ‘new’, ‘better’ and ‘more exciting’. Next year it will all repeat. Without Gav here, what is WT Perth but an attempt by WPP to have an alternative to TBA so they can try and pick up some competitive stuff or try and hold clients who want to escape TBA. They’ve been wholly unsuccessful on both fronts.
The number of local Australian agencies WPP has hoovered up over the last couple of decades is obscene and anti-competitive. Thank god for the indies – the only chance of delivering real choice for clients. State Government needs to stop supporting the destruction of the local creative market at the hands of WPP.
So many haters out there doing what they have to do. Name me a couple of global clients with an indie agency?
Will they roll The Brand Agency into this quagmire too?
Shhhhhh. TBA have been trying hard to present themselves as a West Oz / Australian agency – they don’t need you blowing their cover. They’ve spent a lot of time maintaining that smokescreen.
@Compare the Meerkats
‘Culture’ comes down to the people in the building, and WT Perth has a bunch of genuine, passionate, talented and all-round bloody good ones.
We might lose and gain a few people like we did in the Meerkats merger, but those changes made the team better and stronger than ever so maybe it’s not such a bad thing?
I seem to remember a lot of Friday afternoon HR meetings, tears and support meetings.
Well said Chris. Not sure why so many people in Perth want to smash on everything new all the time.
WPPWTVMLY&R is a franchise. You are the Perth outlet. It is head office’s culture that is defined in all the corporate missives from London or NY. It is like saying my Jolimont Maccas has a great culture – that may be but it ‘great’ as defined by those further up the chain. I know, I’ve spent years doing the network agency things and am now, thankfully, free.
Nike. W+K. That wasn’t too hard.
Ummm… https://campaignbrief.com/telstra-appoints-new-bespoke-agency-61-made-up-of-bear-meets-eagle-on-fire-tbwa-and-omd/
Mergers just equal fewer people and fewer overheads. People will be stretched further. The global holding company beancounters will just keep shrinking the pool to protect their own salaries and bonuses. It won’t just be WPP either.
Multi Agency Alignment 👍
They get it.
I love you Noodle!
@compare the meerkats
What is WT Perth? A delightfully talented group of legends who push and make the best of it every damn day.
A good culture to me looks like good people on the ground, despite the changes. No overlord spoon feeding required, hope Jollimont Maccas can do the same.
This is so sad.
I spent significant chunks of my career (such as it was) at Y&R, Thompsons and some of the others listed earlier who are no longer with us.
Sure they had their faults back then, and even more when viewed in retrospect.
But JWT and Y&R stood for something.
It is indeed truly ironic that WPP (and their ilk) sell themselves as brand custodians and experts at extracting value from brands whilst destroying their own.
I always thought VML stood for something like Virtual Media Lab. I had no idea it was Initials. Nice as Mr Valentine & Co may have been, their anonymity is further evidence of this.
Schadenfreude is always enjoyable when observing the travails of these holding companies, but less so when one recalls the number of people who were cast aside along the way.
Where are the pictures and quotes from the local WT team to assure the local market that this change will all be ok, if not even better, for the clients?
@@chris @compare the meerkat
Giant corporate acquisitions aside, I’m sorry the world of network agencies hurt you. But the amazing people here very much dictate the culture. Having been part of the JWT-Wunderman merger the only significant shifts culturally came from the people in the building not from the name or who rules the roost globally or regionally. It would be narrow minded for me to say the wider network has no cultural influence, it certainly does, but thankfully the wonderful people I work with every day make that irrelevant because the culture they bring supersedes pretty much everything else. Hopefully they get it right and the ‘great’ you refer to happens, but we won’t let the global network dictate that, regardless we’ll get there with or without their influence.
Does changing to VML come with a dose of worry a touch of the unknown, a dash of fear? Yep, but as long as there are great people in the room in Perth we’ll be all-good and if not, like anyone else, we’ll either change it or make our choices on what’s next. This applies to independents and networks, you’re only as happy as the team you have around you; I’m glad you’ve found a team that makes you happy and appreciate your concern for our culture, but let me put your mind at ease and say we’ve never let the network worry our culture before and we’re not about to let it now.
I worked at Publicis in London and Sydney and it was awesome. Imagine working on a global brief for Ford, it’d be epic. It’s a big wide world, give it a try!