WPP shake-up continues as JWT and Wunderman merge to form Wunderman Thompson
WPP agencies J Walter Thompson and Wunderman are to merge in a move that will see the disappearance of one of the industry’s most recognised creative agency names.
Mel Edwards, left, will become global CEO of Wunderman Thompson with Tamara Ingram names as chairwoman
The new entity will be called Wunderman Thompson and will be fully operational in early 2019, WPP said in a statement.
Wunderman chief executive Mel Edwards, who took over from WPP chief executive Mark Read as the agency’s boss in September, will take the global CEO for the merged business with J Walter Thompson CEO Tamara Ingram named chairwoman.
The move is in line with WPP’s plan to simplify its structure, a strategy which began under Martin Sorrell and has continued under Mark Read who in September announced the merger of VML and Y&R to create VMLY&R.
WPP said the creative experience of J Walter Thompson and the digital expertise of Wunderman will create a “formidable” proposition by bringing together “creativity, technology, data and commerce in a single organisation”.
“Clients want greater simplicity from their partners and this development, like others at WPP, is designed to reshape our company around their needs,” Read said.
“It is great news for our clients that we can combine the best of JWT and Wunderman in a single agency and it’s great news for WPP as it allows us to compete more effectively in the sectors with the most significant opportunities for future growth.”
The joint agency will have a workforce of more than 20,000 in 90 markets, WPP said.
It is unclear what the implications will be in Asia Pacific, or for JWT’s digital agency Mirum.
JWT has been led in Asia Pacific by John Gutteridge since mid 2016. He was dubbed by JWT as one of the company’s “rising stars” when he took over from Tom Doctoroff.
J Walter Thompson Asia Pacific CEO John Gutteridge
The regional boss of Wunderman, meanwhile, is Casper Schlickum who joined the agency as APAC chief executive, also in 2016.
In a Q&A with Mumbrella soon after he joined from Xasis, Schlickum spoke of the need for the agency to be “better connected” and to raise its profile in Asia.
Wunderman Asia Pacific CEO Casper Schlickum
Wunderman’s Singapore operation is led by CEO Shannon Dix who joined from Accenture in August.
WPP declined to reveal further details, saying it will update the market “as and when we have new info”.
In a memo to staff, Ingram described the merger as a “careful and deliberate decision” and one that is “driven by the opportunity to reimagine our future and better serve our clients”.
“This union builds on a collaboration across many core clients,” she said. “As a powerhouse we will continue to innovate in traditional spaces while exploring new and emerging categories.
“We will be creative, bold and borderless whilst always putting our people, our clients and their customers first.”
Ingram added that the business was “working through numerous details and logistics in the coming weeks and months” but stressed that “nothing has fundamentally changed”.
“It is business as usual….please continue to focus on what we do best: producing great work for our clients,” she said.
Steve Jones is regular contributor to Mumbrella in Australia and Asia having held the title of chief reporter for several years. He is a journalist with more than 30 years experience and has worked for a number of consumer and trade titles in the UK and Australia
Not a complete surprise given the latest events and the history of client collaboration between the two agencies. One can ask why this never happened with Y&R in the past, with whom they shared offices and admin resources in many parts of the world (politics).
Will be very interesting to see how it turns out, the new visual expression and how they manage the merger of two different cultures. The potential is huge.
Also great to see the rising profile of Wunderman in WPP, which always had less awareness than what it deserved.
Interesting to follow from the sidelines, a new day in WPP.
ReplySo what happens to Mirum? I thought they were under JWT in Singapore? Or, am I behind the times and can’t keep up with the mashups?
ReplyI guess that Mirum will be quietly folded into J. Wunderman Thompson or perhaps merged with either Ogilvy or Grey.
ReplyJWT and Ogilvy are probably the only ad agencies that non-agency folk have ever heard of. Yet, these corporate buffoons erased a 150 years of brand heritage, famous for creativity and foresight, in one meeting. Which corporations in their right minds would entrust these companies with building their brands. They are so blinkered by the rush to make savings that they even erased their own brand! I wouldn’t entrust them to design a menu for a kid’s birthday.
ReplyThat is a very good point, Y&R had its heritage as well. It’s a shame these brands couldn’t keep up with the times and died a slow death under the previous WPP management.
On the other hand, how much does that really matter at the end of the day? Will that actually impact future clients, growth and revenue? I’m not sure sure (even if I’d like to say yes).
ReplyNew kid on the block!
Which begs the question about the relatively older sibling in VMLY&R…what’s going on there?
ReplyThe roots of Y&R and JWT’s decline can be found in the arrogance of the people they hired.
ReplyThey placed winning new business ahead of keeping and growing existing clients.And took their eye off the fundamentals.
They allowed scammers who never did real work to dictate the hire, promotion and removal of creatives who brought home the bacon.
They elevated planners who never solved real business problems but were experts at pontificating the success of others.
Instead of rewarding the people who did the work, they blew money on parties at Cannes so they could rub shoulders with failed politicians and aging rockers.
They regarded anyone who worked the hard-yards as second class creative cousins.
Now those who were once regarded as not cool enough for Y&R or JWT have to do double duty to bail the bloated merged abominations.
And don’t expect a year end bonus from WPP for the next couple of years.
I know exactly who you all are and I will [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines].
Replywonder what all this means for the kids working in j-dubs creative dept? must be hard enough trying to satisfy one set of [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]…now they have two.
Replymay be they will merge wunderman thompson with vmlyr?
Replya veritable cluster*** that will be
Replyzero plus zero=0
ReplyIt’s hard not to feel a sense of loss – perhaps not for the companies as they are today, but for what they represented as brands.
ReplyJWT SG has been [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] scam machine Singapore is infamous for. They say the entire department was transplanted [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines]. Who cares about the mergers anyway. I didn’t even know Wunderman was still in business. Publicis, Leo, Saatchi are all one LDP Universe, Dentsu is one super Aegis Machine, and Ogilvy has never been smaller. Plus, at the rate Ogilvy is losing senior people they might as well merge it with JWT like they did here in KL.
ReplyActually what this means for asia leadership has been decided already. There has been a brief out globally with a London based head hunter to hire a new [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] for a couple of months now. They have hired one (a woman I won’t name cos she probably has no idea what a mess she is stepping into). Unfortunately they haven’t had the respect or balls to tell [Edited under Mumbrella’s community guidelines] about this, so much for the culture of compassion and transparency mark read is building. The politics and back stabbing at wpp right now is monumental and these mega mergers unleash true game of thrones battles. Meanwhile who is looking after the clients and their work?
ReplyTold ya so!
ReplyLooks like you were 100% stop on, In the Know. I doubt this information came lightly, so you must be a WPP insider…
ReplyAnother one when the previous is not done and dusted. Leaving staff in limbo and giving them a Merry Christmas send off. Shame on you.
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