The holding group’s WPP Digital arm has acquired almost 13 per cent of the issued share capital of IGA, parent company of Shanghai-based InGame Ad Technology Interactive. InGame Ad (a separate company to global in-game advertising giant IGA) focuses on ads within Chinese PC-based online gaming. China differs from Western markets in that the PC is the most popular gaming platform, as opposed to consoles, such as PlayStation 3.
Scott Spirit (pictured), strategy director at WPP, described the deal as an “early-stage investment” similar to a tie-up with HDT Holdings, a Chinese rich media ad-serving company. The investments are part of a strategy to take stakes in emerging Chinese companies within the digital sphere.
“All companies in this space are tiny,” said Spirit. “Nobody has made it work in China yet.” Other investors in IGA include California-based venture capital firm Revolution Ventures.
Jason Kuperman, vice-president for Asia-Pacific digital development at WPP rival Omnicom, said his group had also been looking at gaming.
“We’ve been building good relationships with a few gaming companies, and may decide to take some of those partnerships to a deeper level.
However, gaming is such a broad area, I am sceptical that any single partner will be able to provide full coverage.”
Separately, Asia will be one of the key markets for WPP’s newly formed global digital outsourcing unit Deliver.
WPP’s digital agency Agenda, which has offices around the region, will contribute work toward the unit, as will Blue (Singapore and China), Quasar (India) and Ogilvy’s digital assets.
Deliver has been set up by WPP Digital to offer clients the option of outsourcing digital work to its agencies around the world. That means advertisers in mature markets can access production facilities in cheaper markets.
