Twitter enters a lucrative ‘strategic partnership’ with WPP, 2 months after its Starcom deal

Back in April this year, Starcom Mediavest Group entered into a media partnership with Twitter, giving it access to the social media platform’s data, and other ‘perks’ based around ads it buys on Twitter.

Now, rival media behemoth WPP has announced a ‘global strategic partnership’ of its own with Twitter, which may not come as a total surprise given WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell said he wouldn’t rule out a similar deal with the microblogging site.

For Twitter, this is a significant client-win given that WPP is one of the world’s largest ad companies ($17bn in revenue), and goes some way towards cementing its status as a media company rather than a simple social network. In recent times, it has been making strides to help boost its ad revenue, including launching a redesigned business site to educate brands on what Twitter is all about.

“We’re excited to forge this global partnership with WPP,” says Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. “As Twitter has grown, marketers are leveraging the platform for brand insights, relevant real-time messaging, and customer research. This partnership will benefit clients by pairing Twitter with WPP’s world-class analytics, targeting, and creative capabilities.”

Data-driven marketing

As with the Starcom deal, WPP will be looking to tap into Twitter’s wealth of data, giving it access to audience analytics and trends to “deliver more effective campaigns” to its clients. It will span several WPP units – including GroupM (media investment management company), Kantar (consumer insight business), and digital agencies such as Wunderman.

WPP says the partnership will herald the launch of new data-based products and services, some of which will be integrated directly into existing WPP analytic platforms.

“Twitter’s relevance continues to grow – not only as a social platform, but also as a window into consumer attitudes and behaviour in real time,” says Sorrell. “We are delighted to announce this very wide-ranging strategic partnership and to ensure that Twitter data is a key ingredient in many of our disciplines. We look forward to leveraging the platform in a variety of ways for our clients around the world.”

WPP says it will make further announcements around the partnership “in the coming weeks and months”, but there’s no question this signifies a major advance for Twitter as an advertising platform.

Feature Image Credit – FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images