WPP consolidates its agency brands - The Glitch India joins the VMLY&R network
As a part of its growth strategy, WPP has brought its young Indian agency-brand, The Glitch, to join hands with VMLY&R, its global experience agency. From a network point of view, this is in line with the ongoing consolidation taking place across markets, with an idea of benefitting from economies of scale and skill.
Joining hands
Nuts and bolts
- Post this alliance, while The Glitch and VMLY&R India will be collaborating together but they will continue to operate distinct brands and organisational structures.
- The Glitch, founded in Mumbai in 2010, has been a part of WPP since 2018. Its roster of clients includes Hindustan Unilever, LinkedIn, Lenovo, Netflix, Diageo, Microsoft and Triller. VMLY&R India’s roster includes work done in areas of customer experience, data, platforms and commerce for ICICI Bank, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, IDFC, Ford and Marico.
- The integration will see The Glitch become a part of the nearly $1 billion global VMLY&R network. In India, VMLY&R operates three offices, in Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai.
Structural changes
As a part of the new structure, The Glitch’s senior leaders - chief executive officer Pooja Jauhari, co-founder & chief creative officer, Rohit Raj, and co-founder & content chief, Varun Duggirala will now report into Tripti Lochan, co-chief executive officer of VMLY&R Asia. She is based out of Singapore.
In addition, the Glitch leadership team along with VMLY&R India chief executive officer Anil Nair, will form an India leadership council to manage strategic decisions for both companies, which will be headed by Nair. According to Anil Nair, chief executive officer, VMLY&R India, “This union spells great news for clients looking at building digital-first brands. We will now be able to add new weaponry to our arsenal, including powerful capabilities in brand experience, new-age content, youth marketing, connections thinking, brand publishing, and live creativity amongst others.”
On joining the VMLY&R Network, Pooja Jauhari, chief executive officer, The Glitch, says, “The Glitch is a gender blind, inclusive and progressive high-performance workspace and with this marriage, we’ve found kindred spirits in VMLY&R when it comes to driving the same vision. With this union, we believe we are in the best position to help our clients be more agile, sharper and ready for whatever the future may bring.”
Why it makes business sense
- The coming together of these two distinct agency brands would allow clients to experience their combined proposition of marketing talent, capabilities, and experience.
- The Glitch’s digital and content expertise combined with VMLY&R’s digital transformation and customer experience edge could be of advantage to clients especially in a post-pandemic world that is becoming even more digital.