Wunderman, one of the largest agencies inside the WPP agency holding company empire, is being overhauled to better respond, executives say, to the significant shifts in how marketers are seeking to reach consumers.
The changes include the reorganization of the more than 20 agency units of Wunderman into four worldwide divisions, specializing in tasks like helping marketers acquire, and keep, customers.
There are also several promotions and shifts among senior managers, as well as plans to fill a post that has been long vacant, that of global creative officer.
Wunderman, founded in 1958 by Lester Wunderman, who is still at the agency as chairman emeritus, was once a direct marketing agency, then was more recently recast as a specialist in the realms of digital and customer relationship management. The agency, which is part of the Young & Rubicam Group division of WPP, has revenue of more than $1 billion and more than 7,000 employees working at 170 offices in 60 countries.
The revampng is “all to respond to what we’re seeing in the market,†said Daniel Morel, chairman and chief executive at Wunderman, “on the digital side, especially.â€
A primary goal is to “harmonize the offering†to clients, he added, and “make sure we don’t have six ways to do site improvement,†particularly after an acquisition spree in which Wunderman bought more than two dozen agencies and companies in the last 10 years.
The four new divisions of Wunderman will be:
- Wunderman Brand Experience, with a focus on customer acquisition through digital, mobile and other channels, to be led by Sam Landers as president and Martin Conneen as chief operating officer.
- Wunderman Consumer Engagement, with a focus on customer retention, including work in areas like social media, loyalty marketing and mobile marketing. Mr. Morel will lead this division in addition to his other duties while a president is being sought.
- Wunderman Data and Insights, with a focus on obt! aining data, managing data and deriving insights from data through methods like analytics. Gary Laben will serve as president of this division and continue as chief executive of the KBM Group unit of Wunderman.
- Wunderman World Health, with a focus on, as its name suggests, working for clients in fields like pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter remedies, health care and health insurance. Becky Chidester will be president of this division.
Other shifts involving senior managers include the formation of a nine-member executive board for Wunderman that expands and replaces an executive committee. Mr. Morel is naming two vice chairmen of the board: Gurval Caer, who is also chief marketing officer, and Stewart Pearson, who is also chief client officer.
As for the global creative officer to be brought in, Mr. Morel said, “Probably that person will come from a large advertising agency,†because of a need to find someone who has “an interest in using technology†yet also knows how to wo consumers with a pitch that “has to be sexy, has to be entertaining, has to be funny, has to be smart.â€
