Essence Global

Last updated

Essence
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Information Technology, Advertising, Marketing
Founded2005 (2005)
FounderAndrew Shebbeare

Andy Bonsall

Matt Isaacs
FateAcquired by WPP plc, Nov 2015 Merged with Mediacom, Feb 2023
SuccessorEssence Mediacom
Number of locations
Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, USA, Canada, Germany, UK
Key people
Matt Isaacs (CEO until 2014)

Christian Juhl (CEO 2014 - 2019)

Kyoko Matsushita CEO (2019 - 2023)
Revenue$4 billion (total billings) [1]
Number of employees
2000 [1]
Parent GroupM [2]
Website essenceglobal.com

Essence was a global data and measurement-driven full service agency that merged with Mediacom in January 2023 to form Essence Mediacom, [3] . Prior to the merger, Essence had 20 offices in 12 countries and a staff of approximately 2,000. Essence managed over $4B in annualized media spend globally, with clients such as Google, The Financial Times, [4] Target, [1] NBCUniversal, [1] BP, FrieslandCampina, [5] L’Oreal and Tesco Mobile. In 2015 Essence became majority owned by WPP, and a part of GroupM, the WPP media investment management operation. [6]

Contents

Essence specialized in strategy, digital marketing, digital creative, media planning and buying, mobile advertising and analytics. It also included a dedicated technology business, 2Sixty Technologies, which developed platforms that underpinned the agency's services to clients as well as building bespoke technologies for clients including Google. [7] 2Sixty was subsequently merged with other GroupM technologies to form Choreograph. [8]

Matt Isaacs was CEO until May 2014 when he became Executive Chair and was succeeded as CEO by Christian Juhl. [9] Kyoko Matsushita has taken over from Christian Juhl as CEO from 1 October 2019, Juhl has moved to be CEO of GroupM. [10]

Corporate history

Essence was founded by Matt Isaacs, Andrew Shebbeare and Andy Bonsall who previously worked together at Accucard, a credit-card company backed by LloydsTSB, where they developed an in-house digital marketing arm called Creative Services. [11]

In 2005 they created their own digital agency in London, Essence, with their first client being Carphone Warehouse boss, Sir Charles Dunstone. [12]

In 2006 Essence was hired by Google for a UK media and creative assignment. Today Essence is the digital media agency of record for Google in EMEA, NA and APAC. [13]

Essence has worked for domestic and international brands including L’Oreal, TalkTalk, [14] eBay, [15] Betfair, [16] Expedia, [17] Barclays, [18] YouTube, [19] Method, [20] DoubleDown Interactive, [21] HP, Viber, [22] Visa [23] and Intuit. [24]

Timeline

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References

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