IPG Mediabrands, the media holding company within Interpublic Group, last week integrated three of its brands: Kinesso, Reprise, and Matterkind, now living under the KINESSO banner within IPG Mediabrands.
The freshly combined unit will build technology to improve the network’s productivity and help agency brands service clients within IPG Mediabrands, which includes UM, Initiative and Mediahub.
According to Eileen Kiernan, Global CEO of IPG Mediabrands, previously the three agencies had worked “in isolation” and were tasked with generating their own income, but this was often complicated for clients and other IPG brands that used the services across each agency.
“Positioned at the heart of IPG Mediabrands, KINESSO will expand horizons for our clients by prioritising excellence in the future of media, superior value delivery, and a commitment to innovation breaking down industry barriers,” Keirnan siad.
Previously, Reprise focused on search, social and SEO; Matterkind specialised in programmatic, affiliate and performance-based marketing; KINESSO worked on data and technology initiatives. Each Mediabrands agency could utilise any of the three for help executing on data or technology-heavy work.
The merger has resulted in some redundancies, though IPG said it amounted to “less than 1%” of the organisation and that there has been no geographic consolidation.
Preparing brands for an AI-driven future
Speaking to PMW sister title Campaign, Jarrod Martin, Global CEO of KINESSO, reiterated that the merger was not designed as a cost-cutting exercise and the company has plans to invest in staff with skills in business strategy and AI.
“The overall goal is for us to be able to remove some of this manual, joyless work out of the system. It isn’t in service of taking our employee base down, it is making those employees more productive and valuable to our clients,” said Martin.
According to IPG Mediabrands, by the year 2025, the media landscape is set for a profound and irreversible transformation. Three significant trends will shape this evolution.
75% of all media will undergo a radical shift towards automation and AI-driven optimization, revolutionising the way content is created and delivered (Source: Digitalization Concepts – Case Studies: AI-Artificial Intelligence”).
90% of online content will originate from AI-generated sources, redefining the boundaries of creativity and information dissemination.
The retail media sector will experience a surge, with a $121.9bn of investment, making it the fourth-largest media channel globally (Source: BestMediaInfo Bureau, December 2022).
KINESSO will have offerings spanning performance marketing and data and technology. The company has more than 6,000 employees operating in more than 60 countries.
Parent company IPG Mediabrands is a media and marketing solutions division of Interpublic Group. IPG Mediabrands manages over $47bn billion in marketing investment globally on behalf of its clients across its full-service agency networks UM, Initiative and Mediahub.
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