WPP has acquired Goat, a data-driven influencer marketing agency that produces campaigns ‘grounded in performance and measurement’.
The acquisition is the latest in a series of buyouts focused on accelerating WPP’s growth strategy.
Founded by Arron Shepherd, Nick Cooke, and Harry Hugo in 2015, Goat drives for authentic brand engagement while integrating targeted paid media to reach specific audiences. It has tracked the performance of over 50,000 influencer channels and over 250,000 pieces of content in that time.
Located across three global offices, the 150 staff workforce has worked with the likes of Dell, Beiersdorf, Meta, Tesco, Uber, EA, Natura and Augustinus Bader.
Goat will join the ‘big six’ agency’s media investment group GroupM, and merge with WPP’s influencer marketing solution INCA, to create the industry’s first ‘truly global influencer marketing agency’.
Enhanced by GroupM’s partnerships, Goat will provide GroupM and WPP clients with ‘industry-leading’ global, cross-channel, and data-driven influencer marketing capabilities.
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest marketing news sent straight to your inbox each morning
“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,” said CEO and founder Arron Shepherd.
“We are delighted to combine forces with the amazing talent at INCA to deliver even better value for our clients all over the world.”
WPP CEO Mark Read added: “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, while 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.”
