Dive Brief:
- Accenture announced it has chosen IPG Mediabrands' UM group as its strategic media planning and buying partner in a joint news release. UM will replace MEC as the consultancy's global media agency, per The Drum.
- UM's role will include building personalized, cross-channel media strategies that integrate and optimize digital, mobile and social media.
- "Teaming with UM, we will use bold, innovative ways, across a range of platforms and channels, to reach and engage clients, recruits and Accenture people around the world," Roxanne Taylor, Accenture's chief marketing and communications officer, said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Major consultancies like Accenture have started to push into marketing territory traditionally owned by advertising agencies. Agencies, for their part, are facing down serious headwinds regarding a lack of transparency in their business operations and also failures to adjust to a transforming digital media landscape, which has lead brands to eye other third-parties, particularly in the consulting space.
Accenture's pivot to working with a major ad holding group like IPG with its UM arm suggests the consultancy is looking to become more agile with its marketing knowledge and applications. While major consultancies often have stronger focuses in areas like data management and technological innovation and integration, ad agencies might have a more established grasp on the creative work that goes into marketing,
An example of UM’s workload for Accenture is developing targeted engagement strategies that deliver Accenture’s insights and industry updates to key audiences.
Accenture is also creating an in-house media offering in its digital and marketing division, Accenture Interactive.
Last November, Accenture bought Karmarama, a U.K.-based creative and digital data agency, to give Accenture Interactive marketing capabilities including ad campaigns, data-driven content and mobile platforms.