# WPP acquires world’s leading influencer marketing agency, Goat

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/wpp-acquires-worlds-leading-influencer-marketing-agency-goat/4121111467
- Published: 2023-03-22T08:15:44+00:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**[WPP plc](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ftse-company/wpp-plc/wpp.l) **(
LON:WPP) has announced the acquisition of Goat, one of the world’s leading influencer
marketing agencies.  

Goat specialises in data-led end-to-end influencer marketing campaigns grounded 
in performance and measurement and was founded by Arron Shepherd, Nick Cooke, and
Harry Hugo in 2015. Goat drives authentic brand engagement while integrating targeted
paid media to reach the right audience and achieve industry-leading results. The
company’s 150+ staff across three global offices have helped to grow some of the
biggest brands in the world, including Dell, Beiersdorf, Meta, Tesco, Uber, EA, 
Natura and Augustinus Bader, delivering best-in-class social and influencer campaigns.
Since its founding, Goat has tracked the performance of over 50,000 influencer channels and
over 250,000 pieces of content. 

In recent years, Adweek recognised Goat as Europe’s fastest-growing agency while
The Drum awarded it Social Media Agency of the Year and LinkedIn named it one of
its top companies. 

Goat will join GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, and merge with its influencer
marketing solution INCA to create the industry’s first truly global influencer marketing
agency with more than 300 employees in over 30 markets around the world. The combined
entity – which will go to market as Goat – will operate as part of GroupM Nexus,
the world’s leading media performance organisation with more than 9,000 expert practitioners.

As part of GroupM Nexus, Goat will support GroupM’s strategy to help clients drive
growth through performance with the scale and expertise to help global brands activate
campaigns anywhere in the world. Enhanced by GroupM’s partnerships with the world’s
largest social and commerce platforms, proprietary technology, and deep global expertise,
Goat will provide GroupM and WPP clients with industry-leading global, cross-channel,
and data-driven influencer marketing capabilities.     

**Christian Juhl, Global CEO, GroupM, said**: “Influencer marketing is an exciting
growth area for our business and one in which our clients are looking for globally
scaled and outcomes-driven capabilities. The addition of Goat to GroupM as part 
of GroupM Nexus gives us the ability to deliver accountable, cross-channel, and 
data-driven influencer solutions for clients anywhere in the world. Combined with
the exceptional talent at INCA, we expect Goat to play a critical role in helping
us define the next era of media at GroupM.” 

**Arron Shepherd, Founder and CEO, Goat, said:** ”We couldn’t be happier to be joining
WPP and GroupM to bring our leading global influencer marketing and digital solutions
to some of the best brands in the world. We are delighted to combine forces with
the amazing talent at INCA to deliver even better value for our clients all over
the world.” 

**Mark Read, CEO, said: **“Influencer marketing is a key growth priority for the
industry and for WPP. Our clients are increasingly planning budgets at a global 
scale and require partners that have the global reach to help deliver, whilst driving
engagement and impact at a local level. Goat’s proven track record in the influencer
marketing space paired with GroupM’s record of excellence will continue to build
on our unparalleled expertise in this area.” 

Goat becomes the latest in a series of acquisitions that form part of WPP’s accelerated
growth strategy and focused M&A approach. These include 3K Communications, Fēnom
Digital, Diff, Passport, JeffreyGroup and Newcraft in the last six months alone,
in addition to the acquisition of influencer marketing agency Village Marketing 
in February 2022.  

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