In what’s likely to be a number of painful changes, WPP’s GroupM is axing EssenceMediacom X, the agency formed to handle conflicting accounts alongside EssenceMediacom. X CEO Clare Chapman is leaving.
X’s biggest account was Sky Media, variously estimated at £150m-250m across the UK and parts of Europe. Sky has moved to Publicis Groupe’s Zenith.
At the same time EssenceMediacom has appointed former Zenith CEO Natalie Cummins as CEO of the main agency with Kate Rawlinson moving up to CEO of GroupM in the UK. IPA president Josh Krichefski is now head of GroupM EMEA. EssenceMediacom is the UK’s biggest media agency.
EssenceMediacom is putting a brave face on things. Global CEO Nick Lawson says: “Uniting our UK operations is an important step, but bringing Natalie on board is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
“She’s hugely respected, an outstanding leader and a perfect cultural fit for EssenceMediacom as we look to deliver even more breakthroughs for brands.”
Parking big accounts in conflict agencies is fraught with hazards, especially when they’re used to being the main event. EssenceMediacom X never had an air of permanence about it despite the brave words of former boss Chapman. Sky isn’t the only account reviewing at EssenceMediaCom with a global Unilever review taking place. Lawson, Cummins and co. have their work cut out.
There are lots of inaccuracies in this article. Was this written by AI?
Bringing someone new on board is always the “crucial piece to the puzzle”. And here’s your new blazer. Yes, that logo on the back is from the new Target collection. Go get ’em.
Such as?
Having worked at WPP and worked with them in-house, it doesn’t surprise me.
Agencies like Mindshare and Mediacom have had a mindset for too long that they are too big to fail; working at these agencies made clear how ineptly they are being run, and working with them is frustrating because there’s absolutely no accountability or pride in any of the work being supplied.
My eyes were opened when I moved to Omnicom and saw the right way to to do things. Just my opinion, but the numbers tell a similar story.
The merger of MediaCom and Essence will surely go down as one of the worst corporate decisions in UK media history. Two well regarded agencies, that were already getting too large to operate, mashing them together despite multiple conflicts, choosing another WPP clusterfuck of a brand identity, and then proceeding to run a comms campaign that it’s now “like a start up” with an annual “founders day” celebration.
Not sure GroupM knows what a start up is, but they are definitely seem to be trying to create the continual shitshow culture of one.
Irwin and Rob were too famous (and useful foils) for Martin to curtail. Without a loud-mouthed leader, Mark’s mafi(o)nance guys can return to back-room deals, global cross-charges, and commission-less commissions to uncover a monthly nut. At least through Q4.