REG - WPP PLC - Acquisition

WPPAnnouncement

22/02/2022 15:00

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RNS Number : 4602C  WPP PLC  22 February 2022

 

 

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  22 February 2022

WPP PLC ("WPP")

WPP acquires influencer marketing agency

Village Marketing to accelerate creator economy growth

 

WPP today announces the acquisition of Village Marketing in North America, the
industry leader in influencer marketing and creator economy partnerships.

 

Founded in 2013 by Vickie Segar, Village Marketing has 150 employees and was
specifically created with the vision of building brands in a social media and
mobile first world. It was one of the first creative firms to fully honour the
unique impact of creators and has led creative campaigns for some of the
foremost consumer brands of the last decade, including Equinox, Nike, Netflix,
The Farmer's Dog, Boll and Branch, Honest Co., Tommy John, SoulCycle, and many
others.

 

Village Marketing will join the Wunderman Thompson network to strengthen its
commitment to the creator economy. Given the ubiquity of social media,
creators are among the most powerful voices of today. This acquisition will
allow Wunderman Thompson to offer its clients and brands much deeper and more
direct access to the creator economy.

 

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: "Influencers have an increasingly important role
in creating brands. Village Marketing will bring tremendous experience with
some of the world's leading brands in using influencer content alongside
performance marketing strategies to drive results for modern marketers. I'm
delighted to welcome them to WPP."

 

Mel Edwards, Global CEO of Wunderman Thompson, said: "Wunderman Thompson is a
destination for brands who want to access the best creative minds and the
strongest expertise in data and technology. As Village Marketing joins the
Wunderman Thompson family, we can make its full community of creators more
accessible and available to our clients, who are among the world's biggest
brands."

 

Village Marketing has long advocated for women's representation and
recognition of women in business, including in creative agencies and in the
influencer marketing space at large. As an all-women team, Village Marketing's
acquisition marks a historic moment for the growth of the influencer industry
and women-led businesses everywhere.

 

Vickie Segar, Founder of Village Marketing, said: "For decades, the creator
economy and influencer marketing have been wildly misunderstood and
undervalued. We are now at a tipping point where this is changing - and it's
changing fast. This acquisition is a massive opportunity for us to leverage
the expertise of a global leader to both turbocharge our investment in the
creator economy and integrate influencer marketing into the broader marketing
ecosystem. We can't wait to join the Wunderman Thompson family to continue to
evolve the future of marketing and work on inspiring brands with
entrepreneurial creators."

 

The acquisition is part of WPP's accelerated growth strategy
(https://www.wpp.com/news/2020/12/accelerating-growth)  and focused M&A
approach to further strengthen its core creative capabilities in marketing,
communications and design, and follows the acquisition of Made Thought in
December 2021.

 

 

Further information

Martina Suess, WPP

+1-917-456-5049

Martina.suess@wpp.com

 

 

About WPP

WPP is the creative transformation company. We use the power of creativity to
build better futures for our people, planet, clients and communities. For more
information, visit www.wpp.com (http://www.wpp.com) .

 

About Wunderman Thompson

At Wunderman Thompson we exist to inspire growth for ambitious brands. Part
creative agency, part consultancy and part technology company, our experts
provide end-to-end capabilities at a global scale to deliver inspiration
across the entire brand and customer experience.

 

We are 20,000 strong in 90 markets around the world, where our people bring
together creative storytelling, diverse perspectives, inclusive thinking, and
highly specialized vertical capabilities to drive growth for our clients. We
offer deep expertise across the entire customer journey, including
communications, commerce, consultancy, CRM, CX, data, production and
technology.

 

Wunderman Thompson is a WPP agency (NYSE: WPP).

For more information(,  )please visit us at www.wundermanthompson.com
(http://www.wundermanthompson.com/)  and follow Wunderman Thompson on our
social channels via  Twitter
(https://twitter.com/WunThompson?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
, Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/WundermanThompson/) , LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/wunderman-thompson/) , and Instagram
(https://www.instagram.com/wunthompson/?hl=en) .

 

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