WPP, the world's largest communications services group, has announced a huge leap forward in the digital advertising stakes with the expansion of its strategic partnership with Adobe, the global leader in digital marketing software, to provide marketing solutions to clients through a coalition of specialist WPP agencies to be know as the “WPP Adobe Alliance.” At least they didn't call it a coalition! This so-called alliance brings together and makes available to clients Adobe Marketing Cloud capabilities across six WPP agencies, which employ more than 1,000 industry experts in over 20 locations worldwide. The announcement arrived after WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell spoke out about the “very low standard” of some online audience measures, including Facebook's. Adobe is arguably the market leader in this regard, with their marketing cloud comprising eight tightly integrated solutions giving that focus on analytics, web and app experience management, testing and targeting, advertising, video, audience management, social engagement and campaign orchestration.
WPP has announced a huge leap forward in the digital advertising stakes with the expansion of its strategic partnership with Adobe
The WPP Adobe Alliance is to be headed up by vice president of strategic partnerships, Kelly Ann Bauer, and is part of WPP's Technology Partnership Program, an initiative led by chief digital officer Scott Spirit to coordinate and promote the Group's relationships with key providers of marketing technology services. Combining the breadth of WPP's digital agency network with the depth of its individual companies' expertise, it leverages the Group's access to proprietary data through its data investment management business. The launching members of the WPP-Adobe Alliance include Acceleration, Cognifide, KBM Group, Mirum, VML and Wunderman. Among these agencies are some of Adobe's earliest partners, and all have extensive experience of successful Adobe Marketing Cloud implementations for WPP's top global clients.
The WPP-Adobe Alliance is to be headed up by vice president of strategic partnerships, Kelly Ann Bauer
This seems like a good fit, as WPP was already perhaps the most notable Adobe Premier Partner, and its companies have been uniquely committed to developing the skills required to design, develop, sell, deploy and operate solutions using Adobe technology WPP agencies hold certifications across the Adobe product portfolio. Wunderman, for example, was the first global Adobe partner to become a Specialised Partner for Adobe Campaign in both North America and EMEA. Cognifide, meanwhile, has delivered expertise in Adobe Experience Manager for more than 10 years and Mirum Asia was named Adobe's Digital Marketing Partner of the Year for three years in a row.
The launching members of the WPP-Adobe Alliance include Acceleration, Cognifide, KBM Group, Mirum, VML and Wunderman
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, said: “The joint Adobe WPP proposition is a very powerful one: Adobe's leading marketing technology solutions alongside WPP's unique ability to leverage the collective capabilities of our agencies, and our proprietary data, for the benefit of our global client base. The WPP Adobe Alliance extends our combined offering beyond the footprint of a single WPP company through the creation of bespoke teams, enabling clients to respond more strategically and more efficiently to their biggest marketing challenges.” Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe, added: “Through the WPP-Adobe Alliance, WPP clients can now yield the greatest return from their Adobe Marketing Cloud investments. We are excited about taking our successful digital marketing partnership with WPP to another level.”
