In an attempt to stay on the frontier of the industry’s digital shift, British multinational advertising and public relations company WPP acquired a majority stake in marketing technology company and Salesforce Platinum Partner Emark. The deal was executed through WPP’s subsidiary Wunderman.
Emark delivers Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, Service Cloud, DMP, and advertising technology such as Facebook Advertising and Google Ads, as a single, integrated solution.
WPP is falling out of capital markets’ favour as clients increasingly turn to online platforms such as Google and Facebook to reach consumers, while misconduct allegations against former CEO Martin Sorrell unfolded. Nevertheless, the advertising giant is trying to stay current by focusing on consulting and high value-added services while disposing non-strategic assets. Indeed, the only divisions recording like-for-like growth are Public Affairs and Brand Consulting, Heath & Wellness and Specialist Communications.
SORTIS view: The advertising and PR industry is undergoing a transformation, where FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) is attracting record share of the media spending while automating customers’ budgeting and strategy. As a result, the legacy businesses are shifting towards integrated, high value-added services that could hardly be automated or duplicated.
