Juan Pablo Jurado, formerly the Latin America CEO of Wunderman Thompson, will become Latin America CEO of VML; Ewen Sturgeon, previously CEO of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Wunderman Thompson, will become the EMEA CEO of VML. Yi-Chung Tay, who is the Asia CEO for VMLY&R, and Wunderman Thompson’s Asia Pacific CEO Audrey Kuah will serve as co-CEOS of VML’s Asia Pacific region.
The new entity will be operational on Jan. 1, 2024.
The mergers of WPP agencies began five years ago as a push by the holding company to combine creative agencies with more digitally focused shops. In 2018, Young & Rubicam merged with VML to form VMLY&R. In the same year, J. Walter Thompson merged with digital agency Wunderman.
Also read: VMLY&R comes knocking for the ad industry
“Scale matters in today’s world as AI and technology transform marketing and global clients look to simplify their relationships,” WPP CEO Mark Read said in a statement. “VML will combine world-class creativity with deep expertise in data, marketing technology and platforms to deliver competitive advantage for ambitious brands. It’s another important step forward for WPP as we continue to reshape our offer for the future, simplify our business and unlock further benefits of scale.”
“We come to market as one,” said Cook. “It’s a simpler proposition for clients.”
VMLY&R was the smaller of the two networks, having roughly 13,000 employees while Wunderman Thompson has roughly 17,000 employees, according to Cook.
With the merger, two of the oldest and most historic ad agencies in the industry, Y&R and J. Walter Thompson, will effectively no longer have their names on the door of an ad firm.
Instead it is VML, a relative newcomer formed 30 years ago, that carries the name. Cook, who has been with the Kansas City, Missouri-born agency for 27 of those years, was named CEO of VML in 2010.
When asked why the VML name was chosen to lead the new entity, Cook said there was a responsibility to “carry a lot of the heritage and be respectful” of Wunderman Thompson, but it was also the chance “to be something new.” He called it “an open pathway to the future and the creative and technology heritage carried with it.”
Cook acknowledged that the VMLY&R acronym has long been the butt of jokes due to its mouthful of initials, and said, “We have a sense of humor, but can take only so many jokes. This is much easier to say.”