Mindshare UK, part of WPP, has launched a new, dedicated team designed to help startups and businesses at early stages of marketing accelerate their business growth. The Grow@Mindshare team has already been working with the Gousto recipe delivery company and creative tech outfit Picasso Labs and both have already been able to take advantage of Mindshare’s communications expertise, connections and media buying capabilities as part of a more agile, lean and faster service.
The team, which will be led by Joanna Lyall, Chief Commercial Officer, Alan Weetch, Client Partner, and Ruth Zohrer, Head of Programmatic Marketing, will work with new digital enterprises, start-ups and businesses who are looking to make their first significant investment in marketing and who want to draw upon Mindshare’s extensive experience and expertise. For startups it will work with businesses from series A funding onwards, with services focused around three core pillars: Comms expertise; Connections; and Media buying.
The new team will offer businesses access to Mindshare’s industry-leading audience insights and research, ensuring that the next generation of digital disruptors are able to easily identify and reach specific audiences to facilitate fast-scale growth. Grow@Mindshare clients will be able to tap into the wider WPP network, as well as Mindshare’s cross-channel media buying flexibility. The team will work closely with clients to create bespoke marketing plans and investment options that can be scaled up or down, depending on the business need. Grow will work with clients on a project basis making it very quick and simple to get started.
“Launching Grow@Mindshare means that we will now be more attractive to some of the most exciting startups across the globe”
Helen McRae, CEO at Mindshare UK, said: “We firmly believe that one-size-doesn’t-fit all, and this move lets us take our considerable expertise in media buying and audience insight into new, high-growth areas which will hugely benefit from having access to our top talent, and partner network. Launching Grow@Mindshare means that we will now be more attractive to some of the most exciting startups across the globe.” Joanna Lyall, Chief Commercial Officer at Mindshare UK, added: “We work with some of the world’s best known brands and we’re incredibly excited to be able to take these key learnings and apply them to the most innovative companies currently looking to grow their market presence. It is equally valuable for the learnings to go the other way as well. It’s also a really fantastic proposition for our people to work on. Having a mix of dedicated resource and the option for our top talent work in Grow for a defined period of time is a great way to encourage new skills and expertise across all areas of the business.”
The move comes at a time when the wider industry is facing some challenges when it comes to investing in innovation hubs, on the basis that they are set up currently to make money from ads, not entrepreneurial thinking. Earlier this months Ogilvy Labs shut its doors, with the firm’s UK CEO telling staff the company needed to be “Be better and faster at making work,” to best serve clients following the closure.
