A host of content-focused marketing agencies has sprung up inside agencies and media companies in recent years, so why not launch one jointly backed by those entities?
That’s the logic behind Truffle Pig, a new agency joint venture from WPP Group, Snapchat and DailyMail. DailyMail and Snapchat media will be the starting points for branded content development and distribution, senior executives from the three companies said.
No clients were named for the 12-person agency, which is structured as a triparty venture with no single investor holding a majority stake. Truffle Pig’s services will include content strategy, paid media, video production, messaging and analytics.
WPP Group CEO Sir Martin Sorrell told reporters at the Cannes Lions ad festival Tuesday that his company is strategically aligned around three pillars: technology, data and content. Its holdings include AppNexus and Xaxis in tech, Rentrak and comScore in data and Truffle Pig for content.
JV partners speak to reporters at the Cannes Lions festival. From left: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, DailyMail North America CEO Jon Steinberg, WPP Group CEO Sir Martin Sorrell.
“Because of the various pressures the industry has been under, we’ve seen the development of new approaches in the technology and content area,” Sorrell said. “From our point of view, this is another opportunity to develop content ideas for the client.”
Asked why WPP Group would back a new agency that would compete with other agencies under its roof, Sorrell said rapid shifts in the technology and media space have forced holding companies to embrace cannibalization.
“I do believe in eating our own children,” he said.
Truffle Pig will be helmed by Alexander Jutkowitz, managing partner of Group SJR and a vice chairman of previously WPP-owned communications firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies.
It’s not clear at launch how substantial Snapchat’s involvement in Truffle Pig will be. DailyMail North America CEO Jon Steinberg suggested Snapchat would play an advisory role. “Evan’s offices in LA are open to those who want to come in for vertical training,” he said.
Meanwhile Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel was present at the press launch event, but said little:
“This was so obvious we had to do it.”
