Essence Global
Former digital marketing company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Essence was a global data and measurement-driven full service agency that merged with Mediacom in January 2023 to form Essence Mediacom.[2] Prior to the merger, Essence had 20 offices in 12 countries and a staff of approximately 2,000. Essence managed over $4B in annualized media spend globally, with clients such as Google, The Financial Times,[3] Target,[1] NBCUniversal,[1] BP, FrieslandCampina,[4] L’Oreal and Tesco Mobile. In 2015 Essence became majority owned by WPP, and a part of GroupM, the WPP media investment management operation.[5] It had offices in Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, USA, Canada, Germany, and the UK.
Andy Bonsall
Matt Isaacs | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information Technology, Advertising, Marketing |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Founder | Andrew Shebbeare
Andy Bonsall Matt Isaacs |
| Defunct | February 2023 |
| Fate | Merged with Mediacom to form EssenceMediacom |
| Successor | EssenceMediacom |
Number of locations | 11 |
Key people |
|
| Revenue | $4 billion (total billings)[1] |
Number of employees | 2000[1] |
| Website | www |
Essence specialized in strategy, digital marketing, digital creative, media planning and buying, mobile advertising and analytics. It also included a dedicated technology business, 2Sixty Technologies, which developed platforms that underpinned the agency's services to clients as well as building bespoke technologies for clients including Google.[6] 2Sixty was subsequently merged with other GroupM technologies to form Choreograph.[7]
Matt Isaacs was CEO until May 2014 when he became Executive Chair and was succeeded as CEO by Christian Juhl and his ego.[8] Andrew Shebbeare was appointed Chair in Jan 2019. Kyoko Matsushita took over from Christian Juhl as CEO from October 2019, when Juhl moved to be CEO of GroupM.[9]
Corporate history
Essence was founded by Matt Isaacs, Andrew Shebbeare and Andy Bonsall who previously worked together at Accucard, a VC/PE backed credit-card company. Accucard was acquired by Lloyds Banking Group where they developed an in-house digital marketing arm called Create Services.[10]
In 2005 they created their own digital agency in London, Essence, with their first client being Carphone Warehouse boss, Sir Charles Dunstone.[11]
In 2006 Essence was hired by Google for a UK media and creative assignment. Today Essence is the digital media agency of record for Google in EMEA, NA and APAC.[12]
Essence has worked for domestic and international brands including L’Oreal, TalkTalk,[13] eBay,[14] Betfair,[15] Expedia,[16] Barclays,[17] YouTube,[18] Method,[19] DoubleDown Interactive,[20] HP, Viber,[21] Visa[22] and Intuit.[23]
Timeline
- 2005: Essence founded in London by Andrew Shebbeare, Andy Bonsall and Matt Isaacs
- 2010: Essence opens NYC office
- 2011: Essence acquires Punktilio in London[24]
- 2012: Essence acquires Black Bag Advertising in San Francisco[25]
- 2012: Essence acquires Point Reach in Seattle[26]
- 2013: Essence opens Singapore office[27]
- 2014: Essence opens Tokyo office,[28] Matt Isaacs becomes Executive Chair, succeeded by Christian Juhl as CEO[8]
- 2015: Essence is bought by WPP Group[29]
- 2016: Essence opens offices in Sydney, Chicago, Shanghai and Delhi[30]
- 2017: Essence opens offices Los Angeles,[31] Düsseldorf[32] and Seoul[33]
- 2018: Essence opens offices in Bengaluru, Jakarta, Melbourne, Mumbai
- 2019: Essence named as Mediapost's agency of the year[34]
- 2019: Kyoko Matsushita named as new CEO, Christian Juhl moves to be new GroupM CEO[9]
- 2023: Essence merges with Mediacom to form Essence Mediacom[2]