WPP & Buddy Media Launch Strategic Partnership

To help companies scale Facebook marketing globally; WPP invests $5 million in Buddy Media.

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | November 1, 2010

WPP, the world's largest communications services group, and Buddy Media, the Facebook management system of choice for seven of the world's top 10 advertisers, today announced a strategic partnership to help the world's largest brands more effectively scale their marketing efforts on Facebook.

WPP Digital is making a cash investment of $5 million into Buddy Media under the terms of the partnership. The goal of the partnership is to simplify and improve the process by which WPP clients that want to engage with audiences on Facebook can do so via the Buddy Media Platform.

“As Facebook has surpassed the 'half-billion-users' milestone, and is effectively the third largest country in the world, it is no longer a matter of 'if' brands should have a presence on Facebook, but 'how' they can be successful,” said Mark Read, CEO of WPP Digital. "In the same way that brands have software for managing websites and search campaigns globally, it is also now appropriate that we have software that will help manage the fastest growing communication medium of all time, Facebook. We are pleased to be working with Buddy Media as our preferred partner to help clients manage their Facebook presences and capture the full benefits of the conversational marketing opportunity, at scale.”

“It's clear that Facebook relationships work best when they're an extension of an authentic relationship, which in the case of brands includes a wide range of communication channels and experiences," said Michael Lazerow, Chairman and CEO Buddy Media. "We're excited to be working with a company of the scope and caliber of WPP to help our many shared clients develop their Facebook presences as part of the wider marketing mix. As the world's largest communications services group with over 140,000 people in 2,400 offices in 107 countries, WPP can be an important part of accelerating our business."

WPP's cash investment into Buddy Media is an add-on to the $23MM Series C the company recently announced, increasing the size of that round to $28 million.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com