WPP unifies Kantar and GroupM in India to form global analytics practice

08 May 2018 Consultancy.in

As part of its efforts to form a global Kantar Analytics Practice, global public relations and advertising agency WPP has combined two of its subsidiaries in India, namely Kantar and GroupM. The new global practice will combine the expertise of 1,500 data analytics experts from a number of the firm’s specialised divisions.

WPP’s new Kantar Analytics practice is set to become a leading customer insights agency, which will combine unique first party data sets with data collected by clients themselves to inform decisions in the branding and marketing domains. Data collected will mainly pertain to patterns in consumer behavior and attitudes. 

In order to assemble the practice, which will consist of experts with data science, analytics and design backgrounds, the firm has been restructuring its wide array of brands across the world to form optimal combinations. In India, the restructuring has involved forging Kantar and GroupM into a single practice.

Founded in New York in 2003, GroupM is the largest media and advertising firm in the world by billings. The umbrella firm offers a range of services in strategy and business development, trading, brand safety and content management, which are distributed through a number of media agencies including MediaCom, Mindshare, Xavis, Maxus, and a number of others.

WPP unifies Kantar and Group M in India to form global analytics practice

The Kantar Analytics practice will offer consulting and support services in 5 specialised areas. The first area of operation will lay emphasis on returns on investment for branding and media strategies, attempting to create maximum value from branding strategies in both the short and the long terms.

The second domain will be customer analytics, involving pre-decision analysis as well as the cultivation of customer relationships. Segmentation & activation will be the third area of expertise, wherein content will be customised for targeted consumers. The firm will also offer services in innovation analytics and retail & shopper analytics, focusing more on the digital sphere.

The practice is expected to flourish in India, given the size and growth of the consumer market. As the online domain in India flourishes, the digital advertising segment in the country is expected to grow substantially, reaching nearly $300 billion over the next three years – giving Kantar Analytics a vast market to benefit from. 

Commenting on the move, CVL Srinivas, WPP India’s Country Manager said, “The new practice addresses the clients’ ask for data-driven transformation for better ROI from marketing investments in the digital era. GroupM and Kantar have been working closely together in India, co-creating services for our clients. The launch of the Kantar Analytics practice is another step in this direction and demonstrates the ability of our group to come together to provide enhanced value for clients.”

Preeti Reddy, CEO of Kantar South Asia, added, “The practice formalises the connected journey with GroupM in bringing data-driven products to the markets like Campaign Watch (for during campaign ROI management) and consulting services on TV audience measurement data. Proprietary assets like SAAS platform ‘Athena’ (built in India) will offer marketers a predictive and near real-time opportunity to add up to 20% improvement in ROI from marketing investments, including those in e-commerce. And, in Sunder Muthuraman, who will take over as CEO APAC & Global Chief Client Officer, we have a great leader for the practice. ”

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