- Interpublic Group’s McCann is consolidating its social media and influencer marketing services under a new unit, McCann Content Studios, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- ITB, an influencer marketing specialist IPG launched in 2006, will likely be integrated into the studio, as will McCann Live, a worldwide social practice. The agency has enlisted Amit Sutha, recently of sister agency Mediabrands Content Studios, as president and global chief client officer of McCann Content Studios, reporting on to McCann and McCann Worldgroup’s global chief executive Daryl Lee.
- Monica Tailor, previously McCann Live’s global director, has been promoted to chief social marketing officer of McCann Content Studios and the larger McCann brand. Crystal Malachias, ITB’s senior vice chairman of growth and innovation, will act as global head of influencer marketing.
McCann is moving to streamline its social, influencer and connected social commerce services with the formation of the new content studio, which is integrating ITB and McCann Live. The launch emphasizes that sprawling agency networks proceed to deal with becoming leaner, more agile organizations, and speaks to the growing importance of the creator economy for brands.
McCann Content Studios will offer capabilities around social and influencer creative ideation; content creation and activation; audience engagement; influencer co-creation and production; and performance measurement and optimization. The unit goals to have a robust start out of the gate by bringing on expertise from ITB and McCann Live.
Launched in 2006 with offices in Los Angeles, New York City and London, ITB has previously worked with marketers including Unilever and Mastercard. Meanwhile, McCann Live has had a task in shaping social strategy for firms like Aldi within the U.K. and Converse within the U.S.
The new content studio is positioned as full service, recognizing a necessity to interrupt down organizational silos because the lines between social media and the creator economy blur. Influencer marketing spending is forecast to rise 3.5 times faster than conventional social ad spending this 12 months, in line with a recent Insider Intelligence evaluation. The researcher believes the present Hollywood strikes could push more creators to search out endorsement opportunities as productions grind to a halt. Clients, meanwhile, proceed to gravitate toward Gen Z-friendly apps like TikTok that see trends driven by creator activity.
“Brands are increasingly interacting today in social communities in dialogue with fans, creators and influencers,” said McCann global CEO Lee in a press release. “McCann Content Studios will provide our clients with a solution to take part in the creator economy and co-create with them without losing their brand’s unique perspective and social voice, getting one of the best of each worlds.”
The debut of McCann Content Studios comes at a difficult time for parent IPG. The ad-holding group saw organic net revenue decline 1.7% within the second quarter, reflecting the load of the tech downturn and struggles to show around a few of its business groups. The company on the time cut its full-year growth forecast to 1% to 2% from a previous 2% to 4%.
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