WPP has closed the Edinburgh office of one of its global media agencies after just two years.
The advertising giant shut the Scotland office of its Wavemaker media agency in the past few weeks.
The office was launched as a tech-focused media specialist division in 2016 under the name Maxus.
WPP merged Maxus with another of its media agency brands MEC last year to form Wavemaker, as it looked to better compete against rivals and counter the rise of management consultancies.
According to one source, the Edinburgh office struggled to attract clients.
The Edinburgh office employed five people and was headed up by the former WPP Ireland executive Andrew Dunn.
It is thought a number of staff have been redeployed in Wavemaker’s Manchester office.
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The closure of the Edinburgh office comes as WPP new CEO Mark Read pledges to “streamline” the group’s offering and speculation that WPP could axe some of its agency brands.
“We have too many companies and brands,” Read, who has been running WPP since Martin Sorrell quit in April, admitted last week, at the company’s interim results presentation.
Sources have suggested that Wavemaker could face the axe after facing a challenging start and that it had a number of unhappy clients.
Globally, Wavemaker employs 8,500 staff and operates in 90 countries and manages nearly £30billion in annual billings.
WPP will continue to have a presence in Edinburgh, as another of its media agencies Mediacom and PR agency Clarion are located in the capital.
A report by market research company Forrester said that WPP’s multiple brands were confusing for clients.
The report said: “WPP must dissolve its brands to meet the Chief Marketing Officer’s need for simplicity, accountability and scale.”
Along with Wavemaker and Mediacom, WPP is also home to media agencies Mindshare, Essence and GroupM.
Read added: “We need to have enough brands to manage client conflict but not so many that it makes the business impenetrable to understand.
“Sometimes I think we’re talking to ourselves, not talking to our clients. I sit in meetings where people say they’re representing five different agencies and clients don’t care.”
Earlier this year, WPP merged its PR agencies Burson-Marsteller and Cohn and Wolfe.
Wavemaker UK said: “After a strategic review of our business, we have taken the decision to merge our Manchester and Edinburgh offices.
“This forms part of an initiative to turn our Manchester office from a local operation into a regional hub with a remit to expand in the north of the UK.”
@joneddyreynolds
