‘I Had No Tolerance For Talk About Legacy Brands’ – Inside EssenceMediacom’s Award-Winning Merger
Corporate marriages often end in divorce—but not at EssenceMediacom. Two years into the combination of GroupM’s largest legacy media buying agency with its digital, data-led stablemate, the new proposition is not only winning over the market, but picking up plenty of silverware along the way, including B&T’s Media Agency of the Year trophy. Leaders Pippa Berlocher, Matt Scotton and agency staff caught up with B&T features and analysis editor Arvind Hickman to discuss why the merger has gone so well, and what lies ahead for WPP’s ‘Breakthrough’ agency.
It is often the case in business that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. A Forbes study late last year, which analysed 40,000 mergers and acquisitions over the past four decades, found that three quarters of corporate marriages end in failure.
Those that are most likely to fail, according to a similar Harvard Business Review report, are when a business diversifies its service offering with a related company.
In 2022, WPP announced that it would merge its largest media agency, MediaCom, with its younger digital and performance sibling Essence.
The aim was to combine two complementary but ultimately different businesses to provide a full-service media shop with deep traditional media buying muscle and scale (MediaCom) with performance and digital smarts (Essence).
Globally, MediaCom was about four times the size of Essence in terms of headcount, but in Australia the agencies were of a similar headcount. Today, EssenceMediacom is a 550-plus strong business with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns, managing client billings north of $900 million.
It is the second placed media agency in RECMA’s rankings, behind OMD, and has also notched up the second highest number of industry awards, including B&T’s Media Agency of the Year in 2024.
Almost two years ago, Pippa Berlocher was hired from IPG’s Reprise in Singapore to take the helm of EssenceMediacom and build it from the ground up.
“I describe EssenceMediacom as a 500 person startup,” Berlocher told B&T ahead of the agency’s second Founders Day last Friday.
“When we launched in 2023 our first year was incredibly focused on people. When I was interviewing for the role, I had a slide that said the only way that EssenceMediacom is going to be successful is by winning the hearts and minds of our people.”
The inability to integrate culture is often cited as a reason why mergers and acquisitions collapse.
Well aware of this, Berlocher and GroupM’s brains trust decided that they needed to develop an executive leadership team that combined the best of both agencies previous leadership with a mixture of new, dynamic recruits that had “no baggage and alignment with the past”.
Chief strategy officer Sophie Price, Melbourne lead Carl Colman and investment chief Nick Thomas were among the old guard to take on senior roles in the new ship. Adding to this is chief product officer Matt Scotton from Initiative APAC and Sydney MD Stevie Douglas-Neal, while more recently Sarah James has joined to succeed Thomas as investment lead.
Other members of the leadership team include: Brisbane MD Susan Lyons; people and culture lead Jen Davis; chief data, tech and analytics officer Poorani Adewole; chief of creative futures Chris Hitchcock; chief planning officer Jack Graham; and managing partner of tech and transformation Alex Kirk.
“Very quickly we put a line in the sand of there was to be no mention, either in conversation or on slides or documents, of old brands and old agencies,” Berlocher said. “I had very little tolerance for any conversation that was Essence or any conversation that was MediaCom. We are EssenceMediacom.”
Finding a 'breakthrough'
Scotton, Price and national head of planning Jack Graham (a recruit from UM in 2023) spent months working on how to bring the new agency proposition called ‘Breakthrough’ to life for teams and clients locally. It’s about creating breakthrough moments for clients and breakthrough opportunities for staff in a people framework comprised of the values purpose, progression, inclusion and wellbeing.
In localising the Breakthrough product, Scotton and his team went through more than 50 tools and processes that had been used at the old agencies and across the group, whittling down to the ones that would help clients find breakthrough moments across the full funnel.
“It’s about how we can take the performance capability of Essence and also the strategic capability of MediaCom and stitch that together into a genuinely integrated process that was audience first and had analytics at the heart,” Scotton said.
“Creativity was also really important, making sure that every plan that we build within the agency has got iterative improvement.
“The proposition in general is trying to understand the change that’s in the marketplace, change that’s going on in the media, and trying to take advantage of that to give our clients an unfair share of attention and commercial gain at the back of it.”
An example of the ‘Breakthrough’ philosophy in action is an award-winning Google Pixel Australian Open campaign. Rather than just sponsoring the tournament, the Google Pixel camera was used to become the official camera of the Australian Open, recognising that the viewing behavior of how people actually consume tennis and sport is not just through the television, it’s through social and all the other screens around it.
This helped Google step in and own the second screen environment.
EssenceMediacom also worked with KFC and used customer data to help curate personalised menus on the KFC app to drive incremental value.
Rebuilding from the ground up
Once the product offering was nailed, EssenceMediacom broke apart most of the client teams and rebuilt them from the ground up utilising talent from both agencies that could help fulfil the Breakthrough promise.
“That gave both clients excellence in product and delivery, but also very quickly, ensured that the people were working together, which I think really helped from a cultural standpoint,” Berlocher said.
“One of the biggest compliments I heard at the end of the first 12 months from one of our clients was they didn’t feel that like any uncertainty or instability from us following the merge, we were able to drive stability very, very quickly in the business.
“We have been creating a 12 month and beyond three year breakthrough plans for clients, which is a joint plan in partnership on how we can deliver transformation and really break through.”
Testament to the success of ‘Breakthrough’ is that EssenceMediacom has been notching up substantial new business wins and client retention.
In recent times, this includes retaining the huge Queensland Government account and Specsavers, which at the time was regarded by some in the industry as a contentious pitch process that invited all agencies to bid for the work and culminated in a unique 48-hour brief process.
Berlocher said her two favourite days of 2024 was retaining the Queensland Government account, which had been rumoured to move elsewhere and is managed by a team of 35 staff, and the Specsavers win.
On Specsavers, Berlocher admits: “I was sceptical initially, but as we went through it, I was super impressed with the process.
“They were genuinely looking for an agency they have chemistry with and they removed any ability for senior people to do the razzle dazzle. I wasn’t in the room for the Specsavers final pitch as I wasn’t allowed to be there; it was handled by the day-to-day account team, the people who are going to work on their business.”
EssenceMediacom’s momentum has continued by becoming the media agency launch partner for the launch of Warner Bros. Discovery’s SVOD Max.
In spite of its early success, since the merger Berlocher insists that the agency won’t rest on its laurels with plans to continue investing in data, technology and analytics to build its capabilities and ensure that “transformational leadership” is “baked into client services”.
Other areas of focus in 2025 include building the agency’s ‘creative futures’ team, which is its media activation and content division; “muscling up” on commerce to help clients navigate the burgeoning retail media sector; rolling out a product called Catalyst, which is about operating at a ‘two speed economy for clients’ and solving long-term business problems beyond campaign ideas; and evolving its market proposition to Breakthrough 2.0.
Berlocher describes EssenceMediacom’s evolution in three parts.
2023 was about the launch and roll out of Breakthrough; 2024 was about ‘Take Off’; and this year the focus is ‘Altitude’.
“We’ve done a good job taking off,” Berlocher explained. “I think we’re all still on the rocket ship together and on that journey, but the year of altitude is really a single minded focus on the work.
“How do we really ensure that there is consistent excellence in the work that we are delivering to clients, and how do we elevate that on a day-to-day basis.”
When asked what advice they would offer to other businesses that are looking to merge, the Scotton said it is important to illustrate to clients early on the value that a merged entity brings
Berlocher said it’s about focusing on a people proposition that is new and allows staff to get “excited and onboard”. Transparency and authenticity are other important traits to ensure employees and clients are committed to the journey.
EssenceMediacom staff share their views on why they joined the agency and what it is like working there:
Susan Lyons, managing director, Brisbane
What were your initial thoughts or feelings about joining this new agency to lead its Brisbane team?
EssenceMediacom’s fierce focus on creating breakthrough is a huge part of what resonated with me. This is also the best time to join an agency as it’s when all the good stuff happens in the swell of momentum that is created from new people and new beginnings. Brisbane and Queensland is such an exciting place to be as well. The breadth of industry from agriculture to tourism to advanced manufacturing to new energies that is possible in Queensland makes it an incredible place for a business like ours that has a role in partnering with any and all industries. I have no doubt that over the next few years we will see the most innovative and creative thinking in our industry coming out of here. We’ve got a maverick spirit making it the perfect place for new ideas to propagate.”
Sarah James, chief investment officer, Melbourne
What initially drew you to joining EssenceMediacom? Was there a specific mission or aspect of the agency that resonated with you?
I’m a boomerang! I started as a Digital Coordinator with Mediacom in 2006, spent 2 years at MediaCom New York before coming home. There was something about coming back to EssenceMediacom in 2024, that really resonated with me. Viewing from afar, there was no doubt that there was something building. The merger itself combined such diversity of thought and the goodness of two cultures, has produced an absolute supergroup What makes it most special though, are the people. Having the opportunity to be surrounded by some of the smartest brains in the industry, all with a united ambition to succeed and push boundaries. I’m also loving the diversity across the team – it’s family inclusive, diverse in age, cultures, capabilities, backgrounds and all of those lovely characteristics and values that make our agency so unique.
Jazmaree Dawson, marketplace manager, Sydney
What would you say defines the culture at EssenceMediacom?
Coming from Mediacom, I was thrilled to be part of creating a new agency that proudly stands out from the rest. The opportunities for growth for me since, have been incredible and I think the merger really set a new standard encouraging each of us to push boundaries and present the best for our clients and the industry. Things like our Breakthrough Generation Mentoring program, our agency coming together for impactful initiatives like Do It For Dolly Day and our investment into building a strong agency culture speaks for itself. I believe that through the work we do, the initiatives we invest in and the strong focus on our people, we have built an agency that allows individuals to thrive and establish long-term success.
What I love most about working at EssenceMediacom is our agency’s willingness to make a genuine positive impact across the industry and display work we’re all proud of. And while I believe the work we do is brilliant, it’s even better to be surrounded by incredible people who can make any day brighter!
Sarah Forbes, strategy director, Melbourne
If you could sum up what you love most about working at EssenceMediacom what would it be?
My favourite thing about EssenceMediacom is the focus on integrating with our clients. Every day our Client Partners and teams take on the clients’ business goals, internal hurdles and culture like it’s our own. The clients are what originally drew me in. A friend referred me and as EssenceMediacom works with the best of global clients, by getting my foot in the door, I knew I’d be putting myself in a great position for future career growth. I’ve always been someone who embraces change for the exciting new opportunities it brings and it felt like everyone was starting fresh and navigating the change together. Since then, I believe it has fostered growth in our people, training and events, with Leadership also embracing new ideas – from culture initiatives to the creation of new roles and capabilities. EssenceMediacom has reshaped its place in the industry, established a brand with a clear market proposition and redefined partner relationships, bringing them closer to the business than ever.
Jeremy McNamara, general manager, Melbourne
Two years after the merger, what has been the most positive or surprising outcome of joining EssenceMediacom for you personally?
For me it’s our proposition: Breakthrough. It’s a very real and tangible product that not only pushes us to deliver solutions for our clients every day, but it’s a lens over our own personal development too. We’re encouraged and supported to be better, both as media experts and people, every single day. I’ve been through mergers before, but the creation of EssenceMediacom was more than a merger. This has been the creation of a whole new agency, rather than just merely jamming two legacy practices together. By creating something new, it allowed us to start with a white piece of paper to design and model ourselves into what is going to ensure we help clients win, now and in the future.
Vianna Kim, national head of performance, data and tech, Sydney
What were your initial thoughts or feelings about joining this newly formed agency?
At the time of the merger, I was in another agency. Speaking to Pippa and the leadership, it was clear EssenceMediacom was not going to just continue the legacy of either Essence or MediaCom but rather shape the agency as one for the future. I wanted to be a part of building something new and joining EssenceMediacom was my chance to contribute to that. As someone who has specialised in Digital, Data & Tech for most of my career, I’m used to representing the ‘technical’ or ‘scary’ part of media. What is different about EssenceMediacom is that everyone is willing to jump into the deep end with me! Every day I get to work with Essentials across all different parts of the business that embrace data and tech as an opportunity to do better work for our clients. It’s refreshing and inspiring to work alongside people who are brave and curious when they work.
