Building The Agency Model of the Future: VML Six Months In

Six months is a long time in advertising. It's certainly long enough for the world's newest and biggest agency network to have found its rhythm and its confidence.

That the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson has - at a macro level at least - been accomplished so smoothly and quickly is in no small part down to its sure-footed leaders. There are probably no two people working within WPP who are better experienced to carry off a major merger than Jon Cook and Mel Edwards. They’ve been round this block before and the new VML, for which they serve as global chief executive and global president respectively, bears testament to lessons learnt along the way.

Together Cook and Edwards are building what they hope will be seen as the model for the agency of the future - in structure, capabilities and technology. The combined company employs more than 30,000 people in 64 markets and across more than 100 offices, servicing global clients such as Ford, Mondelez, Coca-Cola (as a core part of WPP X) and Unilever.

A focus on culture

It's only been just over six months since VML began operating in its current form, but according to both Cook and Edwards the merger conversation has stopped being a factor with clients already. They’re over it.

Instead, they say that clients are asking about culture. In truth, the two previous agencies were cut from enough of the same cloth that weaving the two cultures together has felt pretty ‘natural’. A list of shared clients - including Microsoft and Dell - meant that internal teams knew each other, while the clear rapport between Cook and Edwards goes back at least a decade when they were running sister WPP agencies.

“The whole company has a shared vision of being part of the future of advertising: this idea of becoming the most connected agency in the world, working between brand experience and commerce and customer experience,” explains Cook, citing the three core capabilities of VML.

Edwards adds that it's VML's breadth of offer that really marks it out; this is a business that on the one hand can be the global agency of record for Krispy Kreme , on the other hand can handle digital agency duties for others. And of course do everything in between. “It's less about the merger and more about what we can give them as the new VML,” Edwards explains.

The natural cultural development of VML can also be seen in the promotion of proven talent from across the old agencies, rather than bringing in an influx of people from outside. That has led to Pip Hulbert being promoted UK CEO, Debbi Vandeven to Global CCO, Rafael Pitanguy stepping up as deputy global chief creative officer and global CCO for The Coca-Cola Company among many others.

Both Cook and Edwards agree that the trust they can give those executives has been another factor in smooth integration, although they have hired to fit along the way too. What they admit has been more difficult has been crossing over systems and processes - still something of a work in progress.

The relevance of scale in the AI era

WPP chief executive officer Mark Read has referred repeatedly to the merger as having created the largest creative agency in the world, but with artificial intelligence coming through and its adoption seen as an assistant across many administrative and functional roles, the question is whether scale will remain a competitive advantage long term.

Edwards explains that while there is a combined might to VML, it still operates locally across each region, taking on local business accounts of around £1 million as well as major contracts that run into hundreds of millions too.

“We don't want to overshadow being this big agency, but we've just brought all our capabilities together under one roof, which makes life so much easier because most clients want one agency on one brand rather than 50 agencies to navigate all this new stuff,” she continues.

Cooks adds that the mission isn’t to be the biggest agency but rather to use the advantage of size to provide and implement solutions for any client anywhere around the world.

Meeting the expectations of marketers

The focus for the business is to put the advertising and customer experience needs of clients more in sync with their commerce strategy through a full-service offer. And that is a demand that more and more chief marketing officers are making, Cook claims.

For its biggest client, Ford, VMLY&R was handling customer and brand experience work, while Wunderman Thompson was working on a major CRM and loyalty program. “We were already teamed up on it, but it’s exponentially connected now,” proclaims Cook. So VML now handles Ford’s brand work while connecting the customer experience from the vehicles and dealerships through to how people now buy a car from the company. “We could take that model and do that across our entire client base,” he adds.

Meanwhile, the desire for AI services is being met through WPP’s year-old partnership with NVIDIA, which has just borne fruit with the June launch of an AI-powered production studio that will be integrated within the network-wide operating system WPP Open. Both are areas of the parent holding company that VML can tap into to support client briefs.

“The way we use AI is to ensure that our clients are being more effective - efficient too, of course, but also more effective,” outlines Edwards, who cites work going on within the agency’s Copenhagen offices to create an AI-powered platform to support personalisation at scale, CRM and loyalty services for marketers to make their work more effective.

Measuring progress

Financial and creative success are the ultimate aims for any advertising business, and VML is no different, but Cook and Edwards are also focused on other elements of success to illustrate that the merger is working.

That includes producing “a sense of balance” between producing great work, retaining a great culture, and running a great business, which the entire leadership team has been charged with ensuring. But any one element of success, such as regularly winning industry awards, will not be favoured over any other, Cook insists.

“There are some KPIs… but you can do it off gut feel too I think.”

The agency's work for Coca-Cola is ‘a manifestation’ of the new VML, Edwards says; the account was previously shared between the old agencies. One particular piece, "Every Coca-Cola is Welcome," also known as "Thanks for Coke-Creating," was a big winner at Cannes Lions this year, winning eight awards including two Golds across the Print and Publishing and Industry Craft categories.

The campaign celebrated local interpretations of the iconic Coca-Cola logo by bodegas, shopkeepers and artists, creating a tapestry of cultural diversity and creativity in the process.

“These visuals are so meaningful and impactful. Signs for local businesses capturing colours of cultures and personalities of communities. We're proud to celebrate and embrace their work,” commented Islam ElDessouky global vice president of Creative Strategy & Content at Coca-Cola when first revealing the work.

Edwards pinpoints it as an example of the new VML because it is work that could only be produced for a global company that sits across most of the WPP business from both a market perspective and a practice perspective, touching so many people as a consequence.

And further evidence of VML's creative highs came at last week's Cannes Lions festival. The agency network secured 57 Lions, including a Grand Prix, seven Gold, 19 Silver, and 30 Bronze Lions, alongside 151 shortlists. The trophies included Silvers in the Creative Commerce and Audio and Radio categories for VML London and New York with 'Sound Scales' for Bailey's.

And another winning campaign for VML London with a Bronze Lion in the Direct Category for NHS Blood and Transplant and it's 'Waiting to Live' work. The same campaign also won Silver in the Health and Wellness Category, and Bronze awards in both Direct and Activation.

It's still very early days for this new era of VML, but if one thing is certain it's that with its current global leadership, the agency in very experienced and capable hands.