WPP insight agency Kantar is ditching all of its separate divisions to consolidate its services and offerings under the Kantar brand name.
The move, which will see Kantar Consulting, Kantar Health, Kantar IMRB, Kantar Media, Kantar Millward Brown, Kantar Public, Kantar TNS, Kantar Worldpanel and Lightspeed disappear, comes into effect on April 2.
It follows reports that some of the world’s biggest private equity firms – including TPG, Apax Partners, Bain Capital and Cinven – have shown strong interest in buying a majority stake in the business which has been valued at up to £3.5bn.
The rebrand would certainly make the sell-off more simple but Kantar chief executive Eric Salama (pictured) insists the decision “reflects the operational changes already happening across our company”, and is “driven by a desire to achieve simplicity, scale and impact for our clients”.
He added: “This one change will make Kantar easier for clients to understand and work with. Removing barriers to co-creation and purposeful collaboration across our organisation will make it easier for Kantar to build platforms and offers globally that address our clients’ most pressing needs.”
Kantar chief marketing officer Mandy Pooler said: “Together, Kantar understands more about how people think, feel, shop, share, vote and view than any other company. Simplifying our brand strategy is a subtle, but important signal of our evolution and our mission – inspiring the world’s most important organisations by providing the most complete understanding of the people they serve.”
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