The primary goal of the consolidated unit is to deliver maximum performance for the group’s clients by moving all resources under one roof, including:
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investment management to build a consistent and leveraged buying network
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media partnerships to identify areas where the group can work together to develop unique partnerships
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programmatic buying to integrate Amnet, the group's trading desk established in 2013
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content to unite all the content resources across the group, including those from Dentsu Entertainment
The setup differs to GroupM, which is a central trading organisation for all of WPP's media agencies. Phil Teeman, group managing director of Dentsu Aegis Network China, explained:
"The trading element is part of the matrix, but we believe bringing together the group's investment management, media partnerships, programmatic buying and content capability brings our value proposition to a new, elevated level of media convergence."
That is especially so in China, where the market is at the forefront of media innovation in social, mobile, e-commerce and content. The development of strategic partnerships on a wider scale with media owners is the focus for Amplifi China, due to the scale and significance of the BATs (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent).
"Partnerships are something we have been doing in 2014, but it's how we position this together under a cohesive, single-point leadership," Teeman said. It's about deepening those relationships with the three powerful media owners—not just "confrontational relationships" that collaborative ones that evolve beyond media efficiencies and buying rates.
Amplifi's management team is also unveiled officially today. Tsuyoshi Suganami, CEO of Dentsu Media Greater China, has been appointed president of Amplifi China based in Shanghai reporting to Teeman.
Lisa Wei, chief investment officer of Dentsu Aegis Network China, has been appointed deputy president of Amplifi China. Meg Chen, executive vice-president of digital development at Aegis Media China, will join the team as head of media partnerships. Lawrence Wan, managing director of Amnet, will continue to lead the programmatic trading desk unit.
China is the second market in Asia which Amplifi is launched in, after Australia in June 2014. Globally, Amplifi is also operating in Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UK, US, Italy, Spain, Poland, Canada and Russia.