What you need to know:

• WPP’s VML is three months into what ANZ CEO Thomas Tearle says will likely be a 12-month consolidation process in total, post the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson.
• Tearle has a well-thumbed copy of the merger “playbook”, with VML the latest of ten different mergers he has been involved in over his career.
• Strategically, he says, VML brings together VMLY&R’s experiential and shopper-led creative chops with Wunderman Thompson's strengths in ecommerce to create a unit he claims is close to “unparalleled” in market.
• The need for global alignment slowed early consolidation efforts, but now the agency is only months away from really “humming” per Tearle.
• Once VML’s structure and resource profile are locked down, the focus will move to building out the merged agency’s capabilities and investing in new technologies.
• With efforts to consolidate and integrate capabilities rampant across the advertising industry as brands shift focus, Tearle says it’s the responsibility of networks to pay homage to their origins. At VML, Tearle will now be carrying on the legacy George Patterson and J. Walter Thompson. No pressure then.

Thomas Tearle was thrown into the 10th agency merger of his career in October, when WPP moved to bring together VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson under the one roof.

Now three months-post the official 1 January launch date, the VML Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) CEO says that there’s probably a couple of months to go until the agency is really “humming”.

Functionally, he says getting people, product, clients, and commercials aligned is a six-month job. From there, there’s another six months in “culturally building it”, focusing on team and the work.

“It's my job to make sure that, as much as possible, [the merger] isn't a distraction to my team.”

Tearle’s come to know the process well over the last two decades, having been around at Golly Slater London when it bought up Green Cathedral in 2007. Then, after relocating to Sydney, he caught the start of the Bienalto merger during his time at Wunderman in 2014 – three years before the agency would become one with J. Walter Thompson.

Over the next seven years at Dentsu’s Isobar – since folded under the Dentsu Creative banner in 2022 – Tearle led the acquisition and integration of Soap Creative and WiTH Creative, and was involved in the same for Vivid and Accordant. Since his 2021 return to WPP as CEO for VMLY&R, he’s seen Geometry become VMLY&R Commerce, and lead the merger of Ford’s bespoke agency, GTB, into VMLY&R over separate occasions for the Australian and New Zealand markets.

With all of that under his belt, it’s not surprising that Tearle was a top pick for the CEO position when the VML creative merger rolled around.

“When I was told this merger was coming about, I was like ‘oh my god, it’s become a specialism’,” says Tearle.

Thankfully, he says, others on his team have also racked up their own fair share of mergers, whether at WPP or elsewhere. “I wouldn't say we have a playbook, but we know how it's going to go – the only thing is you can't predict the team dynamics that go within that.”

What’s next 

Strategically, the benefits of bringing two agency brands together are clear.

“If you look at it from a capability perspective, that if you can bring together one agency that's fantastic at one thing and one that's really good at another and offer that capability in totality, that's a massive benefit,” says Tearle.

Cost efficiencies are also a driving factor, with the de-duplication of roles par for the course in most mergers – and VML is no exception.

But mergers aren’t “all about saving money”, insists Tearle.

“If you bring two big organisations together, of course you're going to have to find efficiencies – you wouldn't be doing the right thing for the business if you didn't do that,” he says. “But at the same time, you've got to take those efficiencies and reinvest in capability.”

In the case of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson – Tearle says the two were already highly complementary on a global level – the focus has been on bringing together the first’s experiential and shopper-led creative nous with the latter’s ecom strengths.

VML’s consolidated offering spans brand experience, customer experience and commerce, underpinned by a proposition of “creating connected brands”.

Tearle reckons the combined unit will be near to “unparalleled”. But dependence on global alignment can make getting there a slow process.

“The global team and regional teams have got to decide how they’re set up” before you can “really make the most of what you’re going to do locally”, says Tearle.

But, 95 days into the timeline – per Tearle’s count at the time of interview – and things are moving forward. With the local leadership team in place, focus has shifted to getting team structure and resource profile right, as well as those capability investments.

“We need to make sure that we've got the best possible craft capabilities, be that creative, strategy, CX; the best possible client service and relationships, and ensure we are investing in the right technologies, whether that's data, AI or any other martech.”

Keeping legacy

The VML merger is another cog in a consolidation wheel gathering pace within advertising networks, and a move towards greater integration across the board.

Tearle says the trend responds to client demand for a more “holistic model”, and serves the network’s interests in driving greater efficiencies.

But while some market commentators suggest the holdcos will eventually end up brand-less, he suspects most will try to retain “some level” of individual agency brands, because “they've invested a lot in those brands, and diminishing them totally would be a mistake”.

Either way, Tearle suggests agency leaders are responsible for respecting the legacy of the past.

For VML, the legacy of George Patterson still lives on seven years after the agency brand was dropped completely.

The bronze George Patterson plaque mounted to the wall Tearle’s office serves as a constant reminder of the agency’s origins, as does the monthly ‘Patt’s pick’ employee of the month award in VML’s Melbourne office. Now that Wunderman Thompson is in the VML fold, the legacy of J. Walter Thompson will be likewise woven into the agency’s story.

“There's some wonderful brands that are long forgotten now,” says Tearle amid the rush to consolidate locally and globally. “They have retained some of the wonderful things they did, but you have to be evidently pretty specific about it.”