WPP Digital will merge four of the holding company’s agencies into new shop Possible Worldwide on February 17. The holding company will combine New York-based Schematic, Cincinnati-based Bridge Worldwide, Singapore-based Blue and New Delhi-based Quasar after a year and a half of planning.
Former Schematic chief executive Trevor Kaufman will lead the New York-based agency as global CEO. He said he expects “we’ll announce at least two [agency] acquisitions this year.”
Bridge Worldwide president and CEO Jay Woffington will serve as the agency’s global president, and Michael Graham, COO of Bridge, will work in the same capacity at the combined agency. Bob Gilbreath, chief marketing strategist at Bridge, will serve as Possible’s chief strategy officer. Nick Worth, president of Schematic, will be the agency’s president for the Americas, while Blue managing director Kenny Powar will serve as president for Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“All of the entrepreneurs who built the business have ascended to global roles within Possible,” said Kaufman. “So as we started to figure out roles and responsibilities, nobody needed to leave as a result of putting possible together.”
He added that Possible will have a board of directors consisting of the four former agency chief executives. Mark Read, CEO and strategy director of WPP Digital, will serve as the board’s chairman.
The combined agency is “on track to do more than $100 million today, and we are hoping for more client acquisitions throughout the year,” said Kaufman.
Possible will inherit the four combined agencies’ existing accounts, including AT&T, Barclays, BBC, Comcast, Dell, General Mills, Mazda, Microsoft, Nokia, Procter & Gamble and Samsung. Kaufman described clients’ response to the merger as “overwhelmingly positive” and said the agency is “going to be very aggressive about trying to go after new business.”
He declined to provide any information about the agency’s first campaign, saying that information is “proprietary to our clients.”
Possible will maintain 18 offices around the globe with about 1,000 employees.
