EssenceMediacom will have over 10,000 employees across 125 offices by 2023.
WPP-owned GroupM will merge Essence with MediaCom to form EssenceMediacom, a move designed to fuse the digital and data-driven Essence with MediaCom’s audience planning and strategic media offering. Nick Lawson will lead the newly formed agency as Global CEO, while Kyoko Matsushita, after eight years at Essence, has been promoted to CEO of WPP in Japan.
The new entity will launch in January, 2023 with 10,000 employees across 125 offices in 2023.
“The formation of EssenceMediacom builds on the strong and proven relationship between the agencies to create the agency model our clients want for the future — one founded on brilliant strategy and brand-building capabilities, with pioneering digital expertise running throughout,” said Lawson.
It was additionally announced that Finecast, Xaxis, and GroupM Services – GroupM’s global community of activation experts – will be brought together to form GroupM Nexus, while Mindshare will complete the integration with global performance agency Neo.
“Through GroupM Nexus and our agency powerhouses Mindshare, Wavemaker, and EssenceMediacom we are building a tech-enabled future, side-by-side with our clients, that is accountable to advertisers’ growth goals and to our vision for an advertising ecosystem that works for everyone,” said Christian Juhl, Global CEO, GroupM.
Matsushita added: “Today’s global marketers need both agility and scale from their agency partners to properly support their businesses across international markets. Bringing together Essence and MediaCom – each with their own celebrated histories of excellence – will create a truly unique combination of agile innovation and global scale in a single agency.”
