WPP Taps New Chief for Wunderman Agency
September 13 2018 - 2:30AM
Dow Jones News
By Nick Kostov
WPP PLC has tapped Mel Edwards to run one of its largest ad
agencies, according to executives at the firm, as the world's
biggest advertising company grapples with upheaval across the
industry.
Ms. Edwards replaces Mark Read as chief executive of Wunderman
after the latter was promoted to CEO of WPP earlier this month. She
was previously head of Wunderman for Europe, Middle East and
Africa.
Wunderman is WPP's direct marketing and customer-relationship
marketing business, a behemoth operation that has returned to
growth in recent years after a period of lackluster financial
performance.
It had been run by Mr. Read since February 2015. While there, he
consolidated Wunderman offices that were scattered across the globe
and reduced the number of brands through which the agency pitched
for business. He also broadened Wunderman's operations, which had
been focused on direct marketing, to include consulting, business
transformation and e-commerce.
Ms. Edwards, who will be based in London, joined Wunderman as
head of its U.K. business in 2012, helping to win new business with
clients including Coca-Cola Co. and Shell PLC. She was promoted to
the role of chief executive for EMEA in 2015, occupying an office
adjacent to Mr. Read's as the two worked together to revamp the
business.
"What I'm not going to do is change everything and reinvent the
wheel," Ms. Edwards said. "We've got something brilliant and my
plan is very much to build on what we've been successful at."
Mr. Read has pledged to revamp WPP's organizational structure
that has become out of step with a digital age.
Last year, WPP merged digital ad firm Possible Worldwide --
which works on behalf of clients such as Procter & Gamble,
AT&T and Starbucks -- into Wunderman, part of the ad giant's
effort to streamline operations and get its companies to work more
closely together.
Wunderman is based in New York and employs 9,200 people across
70 markets.
Write to Nick Kostov at Nick.Kostov@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 13, 2018 03:15 ET (07:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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