WPP AUNZ has rolled Ikon Communications into AKQA Media to form a new data-driven media company, AdNews can reveal.
Ikon Communications CEO Lesley Edwards has been named as the new chief executive of the company, while AKQA Media managing director Chris Hitchcock will take the new role of national managing director.
Ikon is the latest business to be rolled into the AKQA name as WPP continues to consolidate its agencies and simplify the business structure.
Earlier this year, WPP's global office announced plans to merge legacy brand Grey into AKQA. In the local market, WPP AUNZ announced whiteGREY would now sit within AKQA Group.
The holding company merged Switched On Media into AKQA in mid-2019 and also acquired martech company Dominion in New Zealand at the start of 2020.
AdNews understands there has been some departures in recent weeks within Ikon from those within senior management.
In a statement released later, WPP AUNZ CEO Jens Monsees says combining the best of the company’s media offerings with investment into digital and tech capabilities is in line with the company’s strategy to align media, technology and creative to benefit clients.
“Both Ikon and AKQA Media are renowned and respected in the Australian market for a focus upon client-centred solutions, based upon the realisation that media is no longer a stand-alone discipline, having become part of an increasingly complex customer journey," he says.
“Combining the two brands expands the power of data insight, offering existing and prospective clients’ unique solutions to further grow their business."
Newly appointed AKQA Media CEO, Lesley Edwards says progressive brands are continually adapting business models to achieve growth in today’s dynamic marketplace.
“A paradox has emerged as CMOs seek less agencies, but more native specialisms, they increasingly seek and need partners capable of collaborating on complex business problems geared towards unearthing future growth and value," says Edwards.
“Working within our clients’ world, not shackled by legacy traditions, AKQA Media provides our clients a truly agnostic view of the best path to customer engagement."
AKQA Media National MD, Chris Hitchcock: “Client needs for clear and decisive programmatic and data-based media investments have never been stronger. It is the right direction for both businesses to combine our capabilities and a positive."
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