WPP Taps New Chief for Wunderman Agency

By Nick Kostov 

WPP PLC has tapped Mel Edwards to run one of its largest ad agencies, according to executives at the firm, as the world's biggest advertising company grapples with upheaval across the industry.

Ms. Edwards replaces Mark Read as chief executive of Wunderman after the latter was promoted to CEO of WPP earlier this month. She was previously head of Wunderman for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Wunderman is WPP's direct marketing and customer-relationship marketing business, a behemoth operation that has returned to growth in recent years after a period of lackluster financial performance.

It had been run by Mr. Read since February 2015. While there, he consolidated Wunderman offices that were scattered across the globe and reduced the number of brands through which the agency pitched for business. He also broadened Wunderman's operations, which had been focused on direct marketing, to include consulting, business transformation and e-commerce.

Ms. Edwards, who will be based in London, joined Wunderman as head of its U.K. business in 2012, helping to win new business with clients including Coca-Cola Co. and Shell PLC. She was promoted to the role of chief executive for EMEA in 2015, occupying an office adjacent to Mr. Read's as the two worked together to revamp the business.

"What I'm not going to do is change everything and reinvent the wheel," Ms. Edwards said. "We've got something brilliant and my plan is very much to build on what we've been successful at."

Mr. Read has pledged to revamp WPP's organizational structure that has become out of step with a digital age.

Last year, WPP merged digital ad firm Possible Worldwide -- which works on behalf of clients such as Procter & Gamble, AT&T and Starbucks -- into Wunderman, part of the ad giant's effort to streamline operations and get its companies to work more closely together.

Wunderman is based in New York and employs 9,200 people across 70 markets.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 13, 2018 03:15 ET (07:15 GMT)

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