JWT starts digital network in SA, US, France

In line with its strategy to continuously building on J. Walter Thompson Company’s many assets and capabilities in order to drive business transformation, the company has announced the launch of Mirum, a new global company uniting 11 digital agencies spanning 17 countries and 40 offices.

Mirum includes HeathWallace, Quirk and ActivearkJWT in the UK, Digitaria and Lunchbox in the US, XM in Asia Pacific, CASA and i-Cherry in Brazil, Quirk in South Africa and X-Prime in France. The chief honcho at the new network seems to be US boss Dan Khabie from Digitaria.

As such it adds to a baffling array of WPP or WPP-related networks. WPP already has Possible Worldwide, which is another collection of digital agencies WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell has picked up on his shopping expeditions.

There’s currently a big debate going on in adland – or marketing land – about all these specialist units and how they make a client’s job much more difficult. By the time he or she has liaised with a dozen or so agencies there isn’t much time to do anything else.



In a release by the company, the Mirum chief exec has also named his global leadership team, which includes Robin Bade and Markus Hakala, Europe; Rob Stokes, MEA; Guilherme Gomide, LATAM; Nanda Ivens, APAC; Mark Goodman, NA; Alex Kavinski, Behavioral Media; and Kevin Weisberg, Digital Retail Marketing.

Current clients for the new company include CBRE, Cyrela, Daum Kakao, Finnair, HSBC, Magazine Luiza, Mazda, Microsoft, Nokia, Petco, Singapore Tourism Board, TD Bank, Walmart and XL, among others.