Ad agency Clemenger BBDO Sydney and PR agency Porter Novelli to launch joint social media venture

Pontin: Social media wild west

Clemenger BBDO Sydney is joining forces with sister public relations agency Porter Novelli to launch a new social media venture that will combine the strengths of advertising with the communications skills of PR.

The yet unnamed venture, to be launched in the coming weeks, aims to address client needs by providing a single social media service, said Andy Pontin, CEO of Clemenger BBDO Sydney.

“Where social is at at the moment, it is still the Wild West,” Pontin said. “The industry hasn’t settled down in terms of who does what bits of the social mix and I think that’s true of both the agency side and the client side.” Clemenger is forming the new collaborative effort in response to client uncertainty about whether social media is the demand of marketing, corporate affairs or client services.