WPP's Millward Brown to acquire majority stake in Russian market research firm ARMI-Marketing

Dimitry Pisarsky, will retain the position of general director of Millward Brown ARMI-Marketing and will become a member of Millward Brown’s European leadership team, led by Tim Wragg, European CEO of Millward Brown.

Wragg stated that Russia and Ukraine were important markets for Millward Brown’s clients: “This joint venture gives international clients better and more consistent local service and also helps us develop new client relationships as they expand abroad in the future. Our talented teams in Moscow and Kiev are driving marketing best practice in Russia and Ukraine today, and Millward Brown’s international clients now have better access to that talent and their insights into these complex, fast-changing markets.”

Pisarsky added: “We are very pleased to announce a new stage of our partnership with Millward Brown. It brings together our local expertise with Millward Brown’s extensive experience and solutions in brand, communications and media research. We are particularly looking forward to utilizing the latest research innovations to help our clients navigate today’s complex multi-channel world and measure the return on social media and mobile for example. It improves our ability to help our clients evolve their marketing strategies to combine traditional marketing with the most impactful new digital channels.

We are also excited by the access to training and international development programs that this partnership provides our staff, particularly as more of our country’s businesses move into a global arena.”

As a result of the deal, WPP now claims to hold companies making a total revenue of $300m in the country, and will see it grow to employ over 2,000 people in Russia alone.

Earlier this week, Kantar announced its intention to acquire Singapore analytics service, Fisheye Analytics.