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i have spent some of my happiest working years in Y&R, DY&R, WCJ, impiric, Wunderman as well as a partnership between Y&R and Wunderman, at a time when integrated offerings were unheard of. DY&R was the affiliation with Dentsu, back in the day. this business of transformation is always a delicate balance between cannibalising your legacy and creating a fitter, speedier and more flexible model. after a point, legacy becomes the victim of its own success. but its also a delicate balance between sustainability in the model as well as fiddling around regularly, to time the market. and i am sure WPP wouldnt have taken the decision lightly, to get rid of the biggest icons in their portfolio and name it after a lesser known alphabet soup, although i think Wunderman would have been a better fit than VML. i guess, the key Q - how do you serve a new type of client, with a new set of challenges, from a legacy business? but whats in a name if the new business is just a new name for the old business? if the new business continues to monetise ad products, instead of solving big business problems? RIP Young & Rubicam RIP Wunderman RIP J. Walter Thompson Worldwide the easy part is done, now starts the tough part! ps : its amusing to see people in the adland, that preach transformation, disruption, change mgmt blah blah to their clients, wanting to hold on to their own legacy. #wpp #wunderman #jwt #yr #ogilvy #vml #advertisingagency

Once again, Kansas City vision, creativity and innovation makes it to the world stage. Congratulations, Jon Cook, Mel Edwards, and Debbi Vandeven on your success and new leadership roles. And thank you for going back to the name VML! "Advertising holding company giant WPP  is combining two of its major creative agencies, VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, as it seeks to further simplify its business for marketer clients." "VML will be led by Jon Cook as global chief executive and Mel Edwards as global president. Cook previously led VMLY&R and Edwards led Wunderman Thompson. Debbi Vandeven, who had been global chief creative officer at VMLY&R, will take on the same role at VML."  "WPP needed to evolve more as the marketing landscape has continued to shift, especially as the industry braces for what artificial intelligence will bring, Read said." “'Success with AI is going to require us integrating creative and media and production, and it’s going to be much easier for us to do that inside WPP with fewer, stronger companies,' he said." "The choice of name was meant to showcase that simplicity, Edwards said. 'We could have gone with an amalgamation of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, but oh my goodness, can you imagine the name?' she said." #creativity #innovation #vision #leadership #globalimpact #kansascity

Once again, Kansas City vision, creativity and innovation makes it to the world stage. Congratulations, Jon Cook, Mel Edwards, and Debbi Vandeven on your success and new leadership roles. And thank you for going back to the name VML! "Advertising holding company giant WPP  is combining two of its major creative agencies, VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, as it seeks to further simplify its business for marketer clients." "VML will be led by Jon Cook as global chief executive and Mel Edwards as global president. Cook previously led VMLY&R and Edwards led Wunderman Thompson. Debbi Vandeven, who had been global chief creative officer at VMLY&R, will take on the same role at VML."  "WPP needed to evolve more as the marketing landscape has continued to shift, especially as the industry braces for what artificial intelligence will bring, Read said." “'Success with AI is going to require us integrating creative and media and production, and it’s going to be much easier for us to do that inside WPP with fewer, stronger companies,' he said." "The choice of name was meant to showcase that simplicity, Edwards said. 'We could have gone with an amalgamation of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, but oh my goodness, can you imagine the name?' she said." #creativity #innovation #vision #leadership #globalimpact #kansascity

Just a few years ago, WPP merged four huge agencies into two mega agencies. JWT and Wunderman became Wunderman Thompson. And Y&R and VML became VMLY&R. Just yesterday, the cheeses at WPP announced that Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R are to merge into a new colossal mega whopper agency VML. Ok so they recognised that Wunderman Thompson VMLY&R would have been a bit of a mouthful - excellent work - but VML isn't the brand name that both JWT and Y&R were with their storied histories. However, all things must pass, and beancounters don't care about history, legacy, or fluffy stuff like that. They care about scale, efficiency, and saving a few bucks on real estate. But what about the clients? Sure, multinational corporations like Ford, Unilever, P&G and Nestle probably welcome an agency the size of a small moon (That's not a moon!), but there are many clients who'll just get lost in the machine. Can you imagine how long Traffic would take to get revisions through planning, account management, creative, and signed off by the Grand Moff. Civilisations rise and fall in less time. Maybe some clients should take the lead from an iconic VW ad from those Mad Men days (I'm a sucker for history, legacy and fluffy stuff like that) and 'think small'. The Builders Arms Creative

It’s an age old challenge with traditional ad agencies.  You fall in love with the leadership team during the pitch, then struggle to get their time (while still paying for it.) What if you could have 100% access to some of the best talent this industry has to offer?  Talent that comes not just from agencies, but also brand side. And this talent came at a very reasonable price.  Too good to be true?  Not so anymore. Our collective has an impressive and diverse roster of folks who are: ✔ Forbes Top 50 CMO ✔ #1 Creative Director in the world by Business Insider and The One Show ✔ Strategy Lead for Ad-Age’s In-House Agency of the Year ✔ Working Mother of the Year”, 3% Movement Award for Advancing Diversity ✔ Chief Growth Officer of Fortune 100 CPG brand It doesn’t take months to crack your brief – it just takes the right partners, and the right model. Come say hello and meet a few of us.  DM or book a 30 min creds meeting at https://heyxo.co/book.

Let me tell you a little secret. 🤫 It doesn't take months to crack a brief. It takes the right partners and the right model. Q4 is right around the corner. X&O CO would love to help you crack that brief. #advertising #campaign #partners #crackthebrief

Advertising's historians📜 might shed a tear at the final passing of the Thompson agency name into history after nearly 160 years🕰️ in favour of the mere stripling 30-year-old VML brand, but the move is part of WPP's strategy of creating global🌏 mega-agency powerhouses. In February, the WPP chief executive Mark Read showed a similar lack of sentimentality when he fused MediaCom with its sister media agency Essence to combine their respective skills. In doing the same to Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R (both of which were products of their own mergers five years ago), he has created the world’s largest creative company, combining brand experience, customer experience and commerce. It comes into being at the start of next year. In case you're still wondering, here are five reasons why... WPP Has Merged VMLY&R And Wunderman Thompson. Read Here: https://lnkd.in/eUM2bBT5 #vml #wundermanthompson #vmlyr #wpp Wunderman Thompson UK VML VMLY&R COMMERCE VMLY&R HEALTH

Need some inspiration for your next creative brief or strategy? 👉On January 31 and February 1, we're hosting The Sweathead Get-Ahead, a FREE livestream from the offices of adam&eveDDB in London. 1500 people have registered so far. We've rounded up a slate of APG and Effie champions and a table full of cultural researchers and strategists to give you plenty to think about. 🔥Day One: 1. Jamie Peate, Global Head of Effectiveness & Retail for McCann Worldgroup, will share McCann's Effie-winning work for Aldi 2. Tom Sussman, Deputy CSO at Leo Burnett UK, will show us how eyebrows sell McDonald's 3. Joan Devereux, Planning Director at Pablo, will reveal game-changing strategy for Flora 4. Loz Horner will take a break from dominating Premier League Fantasy League and his work as Strategy Partner at Lucky Generals to share the long-term brand-building work of Yorkshire Tea 5. Rory Gallery + Jolene D'Souza from Special New Zealand will dial in from New Zealand to show their work for Partners Life 6. Will Grundy (Head Of Planning) will take the stairs to where we're streaming from to share adam&eveDDB's work for CALM x ITV 🔥Day Two:  1. Bruno M. Carramaschi, Senior Strategist, The Gate London, will open up about Replens 2. Gonca Bubani, Global Media Thought Leadership Director, will share the ten trends she believes we all need to pay attention to this year. 2. Amy Daroukakis, Cultural Strategist, will present some practical ways to play with trends  3. Athena Chen (陳瑋璞), Cultural Foresight Strategist, will shine a light on APAC trends that will have global influence 4. Sam Shaw will represent Canvas8 in his presentation "Coping Mechanisms" 5. Carlotta (Charlie) Monzani, Cultural Insights Specialist, will beam in from Ogilvy Italia, with her talk "Reframing 2024" 🚀RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/dX8ZRbhW Mark Pollard, Strategy Friend will be teaching a masterclass in London on Thursday, Feb 1. Get your ticket here: https://lnkd.in/dGWzvX78 #sweatheadgetahead #freelivestream #casestudies #trends #advertising #strategy #effies #awardwinning

A simpler offering is more powerful and relevant. An example of how ad agencies evolve to deliver value to clients. The new VML combines the legacy from Y&R , VML, Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson, an agency I worked for early in my journey and I was later a client of for years. An ad giant that gave me lots of learning, training and insight. This article describes the benefits of this merger. In my view, it is fueled by the right strategic reasons: the client. When a brand offers what the client wants, it stays relevant. In our days, it is creativity, data (AI) capability and ECommerce. Sometimes this means that century-old agency brand names will no longer exist. And, in this case, it sounds like the right business decision. Exciting to see hit the ad business continues to evolve with the client needs as the driving force. #Marketing #branding #management #mentoring

Change is constant for better tomorrow…