It was one of the latest steps in a series of ad agency reconfigurations. But what are the founding philosophies of Wavemaker, the agency formed from the merger of Group M’s MEC and Maxus?
In this video interview with Beet.TV, global CEO Tim Castree offers three pillars…
Marriage of media content and technology: “Media is not just about the distribution of paid messages anymore. It’s also about how dynamic content, and one-to-one content, and technology, data and platforms, and the new forms of distribution, are really coming together to create a different experience for consumers and different outcomes for advertisers.”
Simplify the noise: “There’s a lot of noise in the world of media at the moment, and we were really looking for ways to simplify. How can we take something which just feels endlessly filled with buzzwords, baloney and BS, and just start to really simplify what media is for our clients, and how we help them to create a change in their business?”
An obsession with purchase journeys: Castree’s team focused on consumers’ purchase journey to clients’ products. By understanding that journey holistically, he says, agencies can help brands make the right interventions.
Last year, Wavemaker parent GroupM launched [m]Platform, a “suite” that comprises data analytics, audience insights, data scientists, technologists from across other GroupM divisions, and in to it wrapped Xaxis, its programmatic and data-driven ad unit.
Castree says [m]Platform is a “big bet on audience-based targeting”, with data for 1.4 billion people.
But, by year’s end, he says, Wavemaker will have added a million purchase journeys to the system, via sibling Kantar’s Lightspeed product.
Castree is also jury president of the Media Lions for the upcoming Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
This video is part of a leadership series presented by Wavemaker, the GroupM media agency formed by the merger of MEC and Maxus. Please find additional segments from the series here.
