WPP has acquired Satalia, a technology company offering market-leading AI solutions for clients.
Satalia is one of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies, with clients including BT, DFS, DS Smith, PwC, Gigaclear, Tesco and Unilever. Combining machine learning and optimization, Satalia builds technologies that helps clients transform their business strategies and radically improve operational efficiency. The company was founded by CEO Dr Daniel Hulme in 2008. Hulme is a globally recognized expert in AI, a regular TEDx and Google speaker, and a Kauffman Global Scholar. He has over 20 years of experience in AI, having received his Masters and PhD in AI from UCL where he is currently Entrepreneur in Residence. He is also a lecturer for LSE’s Marshall Institute and holds advisory positions in both the private and public sectors.
Alongside its services in custom-made AI solutions and AI strategy consultancy, Satalia has built many AI assets, including two products: Satalia Workforce and Satalia Delivery. Satalia Workforce dynamically automates and optimizes the allocation of people to their work, and has been adopted by global accountancy and consultancy firms, including PwC. Satalia Delivery is a leading home-delivery solution, which optimizes the routes and schedules of vehicle fleets every time a new order is made, and is used by companies including DFS, HSS, Selecta and Woolworths, the Australian supermarket chain. Satalia has deep expertise in applying AI throughout logistics and the supply chain, previously helping the development of Tesco’s last-mile delivery solution.
Satalia, which employs more than 80 people across multiple markets in Europe, will join Wunderman Thompson Commerce and strengthen the global ecommerce consultancy’s technology proposition. It will also act as a hub of AI expertise for all WPP agencies. In addition to his role as CEO of Satalia, Hulme will become chief AI officer of WPP, working closely with WPP’s chief technology officer and WPP agencies to promote AI capabilities across the company and help shape WPP’s AI strategy, including R&D, AI ethics, partnerships, talent and products.
The acquisition is aligned with WPP’s accelerated growth strategy and focused M&A approach to build on existing capabilities in growth areas such as experience, commerce and technology.
Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “Advances in technology are revolutionizing how people live, work and shop, how brands go to market, and how products and services are delivered. Clients are looking for end-to-end solutions that harness these technologies to grow their business. I’m delighted to welcome Daniel and the Satalia team to WPP as we continue to strengthen our offer to global brands.”
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More