This looks like a pretty legit report from the London newswires and it confirms what we first speculated on last week, that G2 was separating from Grey and aligning under Ogilvy. Well, this just adds to what’s already been a busy week for Martin Sorrell and the gang at WPP. Here’s what appears to be the official announce, verbatim:
“LONDON—WPP (NASDAQ:WPPGY), the world’s leading communications services group, announces that its wholly owned subsidiaries, OgilvyAction and G2, will come together in a joint venture to form a company within the Group that becomes the largest and most geographically complete activation agency in the world.
The new entity marries the skill sets of two successful global businesses, which will operate in more than 100 offices in 56 countries. They bring complementary expertise in consumer activation, trade marketing, shopper marketing, one-to-one marketing and digital activation.
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The integration of the talent and resources of the new company is underway. When formally launched in May, the business will offer clients access to talent, data, digital capabilities and greater global reach. The geographic footprint of each agency is complementary with each other, and a major purpose of the new organization will be to drive these disciplines more strongly into emerging markets. Together they are uniquely placed to exploit the intersection of the world’s brands and of distribution systems.The decision demonstrates WPP’s commitment to activation and shopper marketing, areas that are becoming increasingly important to clients. The company will work closely with The Store, WPP’s global retail practice, which last year brought together the specialist resources of over a dozen WPP companies to create The Shopper Marketing Store, an offer that harnesses and provides easy access to world-class agencies and experts in the field via a single web portal.”