WPP Acquires Influencer Marketing Agency Village Marketing to Accelerate Creator Economy Growth
February 22 2022 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
WPP (NYSE: 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 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.
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.
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 and
follow Wunderman Thompson on our social channels via Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220222005774/en/
Further information Martina Suess, WPP +1-917-456-5049
Martina.suess@wpp.com
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