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    WPP Unites Y&R, VML To Form New Brand Experience Agency

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments2719 Views
    Jon Cook
    NEW YORK --

    WPP is creating a new agency, VMLY&R, uniting two leading shops to deliver a contemporary, fully integrated digital and creative offering to clients on a global scale.

    VMLY&R’s proposition will combine brand experience and brand advertising, drawing on the complementary expertise of VML and Y&R to create connected brands that drive value for clients.

    The new agency will be led by global CEO Jon Cook, who is currently global CEO of VML. Cook will report to Mark Read, CEO of WPP. David Sable, former global CEO of Y&R, will continue to support Cook, VMLY&R and its clients as non-executive chairman as he transitions to a new role in WPP.

    Y&R is known for building many of the Fortune 500’s biggest brands. Its renowned strategic approach, married with innovation and creative talent, has led to some of the most famous and culturally transformative campaigns around the world. Y&R developed the proprietary brand management tool, the BrandAsset Valuator, which fuels both strategic and creative decisions with data and insights. The agency’s work has consistently driven the bottom line for its clients and is continuously recognized at every major awards festival, including Cannes, D&AD, the Effies and The One Show.

    VML has established itself as a forward-looking agency—blending award-winning creativity with deep expertise in digital marketing. The agency has been recognized at all international creative award shows, including being named Entertainment Agency of the Year for two years in a row at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity; has been noted as a digital leader by Forrester and Gartner; and was one of the first agencies to be certified by the 3% Movement, an organization that champions female creative leadership, diversity and inclusion.

    Read said: “VMLY&R will be a powerful brand experience offering and a core agency brand for WPP. VML and Y&R have distinct and complementary strengths spanning creative, technology and data services that make them a perfect match. This is an important step as we build a new, simpler WPP that provides clients with a fully integrated offering and easy access to our wealth of talent and resources.”

    VMLY&R’s Cook said: “I’m thrilled for the VMLY&R team as we start this journey together and harness the best of each agency to deliver culturally relevant world-class work. The landscape of our industry is changing rapidly, and we are committed to being an invaluable partner to CMOs around the world. I look forward to leading this unprecedented unification of two exceptional agencies.”

    Sable said, “VMLY&R has been nearly 18 years in the making as we have worked to build two successful brands and develop partnerships together with clients such as Colgate-Palmolive, Dell and the U.S. Navy. I’m proud of this pinnacle moment as we are now able to provide clients one robust, seamless offering. I look forward to supporting Jon and our VMLY&R client partners as I take on my new role within WPP.”

    VMLY&R will be an agency of more than 7,000 people, and one of WPP’s principal brands. It will be fully operational in early 2019.

    Category:News
    Tags:Jon CookVMLVMLY&RWPPY&R



    Is “Glicked” The New “Barbenheimer”? “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” Hit Theater Screens

    Thursday, November 21, 2024

    "Barbenheimer" was a phenomenon impossible to manufacture. But, more than a year later, that hasn't stopped people from trying to make "Glicked" — or even "Babyratu" — happen.

    The counterprogramming of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in July 2023 hit a nerve culturally and had the receipts to back it up. Unlike so many things that begin as memes, it transcended its online beginnings. Instead of an either-or, the two movies ultimately complemented and boosted one another at the box office.

    And ever since, moviegoers, marketers and meme makers have been trying to recreate that moment, searching the movie release schedule for odd mashups and sending candidates off into the social media void. Most attempts have fizzled (sorry, "Saw Patrol" ).

    This weekend is perhaps the closest approximation yet as the Broadway musical adaptation "Wicked" opens Friday against the chest-thumping sword-and-sandals epic "Gladiator II." Two big studio releases (Universal and Paramount), with one-name titles, opposite tones and aesthetics and big blockbuster energy — it was already halfway there before the name game began: "Wickiator," "Wadiator," "Gladwick" and even the eyebrow raising "Gladicked" have all been suggested.

    "'Glicked' rolls off the tongue a little bit more," actor Fred Hechinger said at the New York screening of "Gladiator II" this week. "I think we should all band around 'Glicked.' It gets too confusing if you have four or five different names for it."

    As with "Barbenheimer," as reductive as it might seem, "Glicked" also has the male/female divide that make the fan art extra silly. One is pink and bright and awash in sparkles, tulle, Broadway bangers and brand tie-ins; The other is all sweat and sand, blood and bulging... Read More

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