Essence said that Essence France will work with existing clients, such as Google, in France as well as with parent company GroupM’s media agencies in the country.

The French branch of the business will take up a temporary office in GroupM’s Paris office initially, with the aim of moving to WPP’s Paris campus next year.

The company is looking to recruit up to 17 staff by the end of this year, including client leads, strategic planners, content strategists and digital platform specialists.

Essence France will be managed by Guillaume de La Fléchère, who will also remain in his current role of chief executive of Neo MediaWorld.

Tim Irwin, chief executive of Essence Europe Middle East and Africa, said: “French advertisers are currently combining programmatic buying with first-party data, and are looking for technology partners and very strong consultancy expertise to maximise these new opportunities.

“We believe the time is right to enter this market, which is increasingly data and technology driven.”