NEWS18 March 2019

Kantar ditches all sub-brands

Jane Bainbridge

News UK

UK – WPP-owned data, insights and consulting firm Kantar has announced it will now operate all its businesses under the single brand name of Kantar.

As a result, Kantar Consulting, Kantar Health, Kantar IMRB, Kantar Media, Kantar Millward Brown, Kantar Public, Kantar TNS, Kantar Worldpanel, Lightspeed and all country-specific brands will no longer exist.

The company insisted there would be no redundancies as a result of what it described as “purely a branding exercise”. A spokesperson said individual CEOs would retain their job titles although what these titles would be was not clear, as the names for the new divisions, in place of the separate businesses, had not been decided.

WPP has revealed that part of its three-year turnaround plan involves selling the Kantar business. WPP CEO Mark Read said in its most recent results that it was beginning the process of “seeking a financial and strategic partner for Kantar”.

Kantar CEO Eric Salama (pictured) said: “The change in our branding reflects the operational changes already happening across our company, and is driven by a desire to achieve simplicity, scale and impact for our clients.

“This one change will make Kantar easier for clients to understand and work with. Removing barriers to co-creation and purposeful collaboration across our organisation will make it easier for Kantar to build platforms and offers globally that address our clients’ most pressing needs.”

Jane Bainbridge

News UK

@RESEARCH LIVE

1 Comment

Dr Chris Newis

2 years ago

Speaking as a former employee of Kantar/TNS. While on the surface it sounds entirely rational to shed the plethora of brands in the Kantar stable, it is also worth noting the legacy value of Millward Brown (formerly British Market Research Bureau) and TNS, which along with MORI, are among the most trusted names in UK market research.

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