WPP’s Kinetic and GroupM acquire majority stake in Poster Conseil
WPP’s wholly-owned operating companies, Kinetic and GroupM, have acquired a majority stake in Financiere Poster.
Poster Conseil manages media planning and buying for agencies and direct clients, and provides planning and measurement technologies to both agencies and vendors. It employs 25 people and is based in Paris.
Poster Conseil will continue to be led by CEO Xavier Sorato. The agency’s consolidated revenues for the year ended 31 December 2014 were EUR9.8 million, with gross assets of EUR8.5 million.
UK, London & France, Paris
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WPP’s J. Walter Thompson Company acquires minority stake in WANDA Digital in Turkey
WPP’s J. Walter Thompson Company has acquired a minority stake in WANDA Digital, one of the leading independent digital agencies in Turkey.
Founded in 2006 and employing 80 people in Istanbul, WANDA’s clients include Turkcell, L’Oreal, Nestle and Unilever.
WANDA offers a range of services including campaigns, social media, platform development and games and apps.
Unaudited net sales for the year ended 31 December 2014 were approximately US$ 3.4 million, with gross assets at the same date of approximately US$ 2.3 million.
Following the transaction, WANDA and J. Walter Thompson’s local office, Manajans J Walter Thompson Turkey, will operate independently.
UK, London & Turkey, Istanbul
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WPP’ GroupM acquires Chemistry Media in New Zealand
WPP’s wholly owned operating company GroupM has acquired Chemistry Media Ltd., a leading media agency based in New Zealand.
Chemistry Media is a media planning and buying agency with operations in Auckland and Wellington. Key clients include Bank of New Zealand, Fonterra, Nestlé, and Restaurant Brands.
Since 2010, Chemistry has been affiliated with the MediaCom network, and currently trades under the name MediaCom. Following the acquisition, Chemistry will continue to trade as MediaCom.
UK, London & New Zealand, Auckland
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WPP increases its stake in TAM analysis software company, TechEdge in Denmark
WPP has increased its stake from 20% to 49% in TechEdge, a supplier of software that enables the analysis TV audience measurement (TAM) data.
TechEdge licenses a range of software products to broadcasters and media companies, enabling users to analyse, interpret and action respondent level TAM data. For example, broadcasters can review TV audience patterns, whilst media companies use TechEdge’s products to optimise advertising allocation by channel and time of day.
TechEdge was founded in 2000 by Andreas Velter (CEO) and Henrik Sahlholt (CTO). MEC, (part of GroupM, WPP’s Data Investment Management division) invested in the company in 2001.
Unaudited net sales for the year ended 31 December 2014 were approximately US$ 13.6 million, with gross assets at the same date of approximately US$ 6.3 million.
UK, London & Denmark, Copenhagen
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WPP’s GroupM acquires Greenhouse Group B.V in The Netherlands
WPP’s holy owned operating company GroupM has acquired Greenhouse Group in The Netherlands.
Greenhouse Group provides digital media and marketing services through its four operating companies: Blue Mango Interactive and Fresh Fruit Digital (online marketing agencies), We Are Blossom (social media), and Source Republic (SEO and content marketing).
Greenhouse Group was founded in 2007 and employs more than 150 people. Unaudited revenue for the year ended 31 December 2014 was EUR 10.1 million, with gross assets of EUR 14.1 million as at the same date.
Greenhouse Group will operate as a stand-alone business within GroupM and will continue to be led by CEO Marion Koopman and CFO Frank Sanders.
UK, London & The Netherlands, Eindhoven
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WPP acquires majority stake in SET Creative in the US
WPP has acquired a majority stake in SET Management, LLC (SET Creative). US-based SET engages consumers with brands through physical experiences in retail stores, pop-up stores, trade shows and live events. SET Creative continues that engagement digitally via apps, content creation and social media.
SET Creative’s revenues for the year ended 31 December 2014 were approximately US$38 million with gross assets of approximately US$18 million at the same date. Clients include Arc’teryx, BMW, Google Glass, Jordan, Nike, Red Bull and Uniqlo. Founded in 2009, SET Creative is headquartered in Portland, Oregon, with offices in New York and Los Angeles. The agency recently acquired a UK operation, called Flourish, to be renamed SET Live, concentrating on live events, exhibitions and environments. In total, SET Creative employs around 120 people.
SET’s management, led by founder Sabina Teshler, will remain in place, reporting in to Simon Bolton, co-leader of WPP’s branding & identity division (B to D group), who will oversee SET as part of a newly-formed collective focusing on all elements of brand experience.
Bolton commented: “SET creates world class physical and digital brand experiences, making it an ideal partner to Brand Union and FITCH. The three agencies provide a complementary set of services, from brand strategy, to retail, design and events, collectively creating a roadmap for agile omni-channel brands.”
UK, London & USA, Portland, OR
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WPP’s GroupM acquires majority stake in directComm Marketing Group in Turkey
WPP wholly owned operating company GroupM, has acquired a majority stake in directComm Marketing Group, a leading provider of integrated direct marketing services in Turkey.
directComm specialises in digital marketing, customer relationship management, events and social media. Clients include Türk Telekom, Siemens and Sony Mobile. Founded in 2000 and based in Istanbul, directComm employs around 70 people.
Unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2014 were approximately US$ 6.5 million, with gross assets at the same date of approximately US$ 3.2 million.
UK, London & Turkey, Istanbul
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WPP’s Kantar Media invests in data analytics firm BIScience
WPP’s wholly owned operating company Kantar Media has invested in BIScience (2009) Ltd., a data analytics firm that specialises in platforms for cross-channel and multi-country digital media monitoring, planning and optimisation.
BIScience’s global coverage spans over 60 geographies, with competitive cross-channel intelligence and analytics for display, mobile, video, and programmatic media covering more than 500,000 publishers worldwide. Clients include Conduit, Digilant, Funbox, Matomy and the Media Initiatives Group. Founded in 2009, BIScience employs over 35 people and is based in Tel Aviv with an office in New York.
UK, London & Israel. Tel Aviv
Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital has continued to expand the capabilities of its creative digital content production company MediaMonks and its programmatic consultancy MightyHive with the addition of two businesses.
Fusion Corporate Partners 
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