Features

MEC and Maxus to be called Wavemaker as CEO Tim Castree hails ‘epic’ pace of change with merger

WPP will name its newly merged media giant ‘Wavemaker’. CEO Tim Castree, the Aussie tasked with overseeing the $38bn global merger, speaks with Simon Canning about the epic pace of the move, the hurdles he faces and the impact commoditisation is having on media agencies.

Simon Canning

September 7, 2017 11:00

WPP will call the soon-to-be merged MEC and Maxus agencies Wavemaker with global CEO Tim Castree admitting the merger was announced with no real plans in place on how it would proceed until local managers had been named.

Wavemaker takes elements from WPP and Group M

Speaking with Mumbrella, Castree said the new branding was one crucial step forwards as Group M sought to remove itself from the constraints of commoditisation. He also said that the merger was being pushed at an “epic” pace.

He said the new brand was a combination of the heritage of WPP and GroupM which would forge an agency with more than $US38b in billings, 8,500 staff and 139 offices in 90 countries.

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Simon Canning

Simon Canning was Mumbrella's marketing and advertising editor from 2015-2017. In a career spanning journalism and communications over more than 30 years Simon has become one of Australia’s most respected analysts and commentators on the advertising, marketing and media industries. A regular commentator on radio and TV, Simon has also worked in media in the US and UK .

Topics

commoditisation GroupM Maxus MEC Peter Vogel Tim Castree Wavemaker WPP

1 COMMENTS

Concerned 7 Sep 17

So one again agency group consolidates agencies and Mumbrella jumps all over them but another group does something very similar (which is a great thing creating opportunity and less mess) and the media embraces it.

People wonder why we have so much great young talent leaving media agencies? The media has a lot to answer for – making people very uncomfortable and concerned. Change isn’t always a bad thing.

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