wpp Picks Up Goat Agency
British communication, advertising and PR holding company WPP has acquired London-based marketing agency Goat.
Goat, which specialises in data-led end-to-end influencer marketing campaigns, was founded by Arron Shepherd, Nick Cooke, and Harry Hugo in 2015. The company boasts over 150 staff across three global offices and has worked with global brands including Dell, Beiersdorf, Meta, Tesco, Uber, EA, Natura and Augustinus Bader, in delivering social and influencer campaigns.
As part of the acquisition, Goat will join GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, and merge with its influencer marketing solution INCA to create a global influencer marketing agency with more than 300 employees in over 30 markets around the world.
The combined entity – which will go to market as Goat – will operate as part of GroupM Nexus, an international media performance organisation.
Christian Juhl, Global CEO, GroupM, said, “Influencer marketing is an exciting growth area for our business and one in which our clients are looking for globally scaled and outcomes-driven capabilities. The addition of Goat to GroupM as part of GroupM Nexus gives us the ability to deliver accountable, cross-channel, and data-driven influencer solutions for clients anywhere in the world. Combined with the exceptional talent at INCA, we expect Goat to play a critical role in helping us define the next era of media at GroupM.”
Arron Shepherd, Founder and CEO, Goat, added, “We couldn’t be happier to be joining WPP and GroupM to bring our leading global influencer marketing and digital solutions to some of the best brands in the world. We are delighted to combine forces with the amazing talent at INCA to deliver even better value for our clients all over the world.”
Mark Read, CEO, WPP, commented, “Influencer marketing is a key growth priority for the industry and for WPP. Our clients are increasingly planning budgets at a global scale and require partners that have the global reach to help deliver, whilst driving engagement and impact at a local level. Goat’s proven track record in the influencer marketing space paired with GroupM’s record of excellence will continue to build on our unparalleled expertise in this area.”
Goat becomes the latest in a series of acquisition mad by WPP. These include 3K Communications, Fēnom Digital, Diff, Passport, JeffreyGroup and Newcraft in the last six months, in addition to the acquisition of influencer marketing agency Village Marketing in February 2022.
