WPP and IBM launch AI-powered B2B marketing solution

New Delhi: WPP and IBM  announced the launch of a new business-to-business (B2B) solution powered by IBM’s AI and  data platform watsonx.

WPP Open for B2B aims to help marketers solve B2B marketing challenges, identify and engage buying groups, and improve clients’ return on investment. 

WPP Open for B2B is powered by watsonx – an AI and data platform. WPP and IBM aim to collaborate with LinkedIn to help brands better understand buying groups.

Alan Webber, Program Vice-President – Digital Platform Ecosystems at analyst firm IDC,  said, “This product and partnership have the potential to be an exponential force multiplier  for the Fortune 1000.”  

Stephan Pretorius, Chief Technology Officer at WPP, said, “Our clients want to get in front  of the right people, at the right time, on the right channels, with the right message. However,  most solutions in the market today are designed for consumer marketing, targeted at sole  decision-makers at a single point of purchase. WPP Open for B2B, and our collaboration with  IBM and LinkedIn, will help solve some incredibly complex challenges in the B2B marketing  space, using the best of WPP and IBM technology and expertise.” 

Jonathan Adashek, Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Communications at  IBM, said, “B2B marketers have been focused on creating truly personalized, relevant and  consistent experiences for buying groups at scale for years. Our collaboration with WPP and  LinkedIn provides real-time, actionable insights that are based on trusted data. We are excited  to create and use these new, powerful and trusted AI solutions to deliver a force multiplier for  B2B marketing.”

Penry Price, Vice-President at LinkedIn, said, “With success in B2B requiring customers to  reach between 6 to 10 stakeholders, building relationships and ‘collective confidence’ among  the entire buyer group is key. We are looking forward to working with WPP and IBM to  determine how our unique knowledge of buyer groups can help inform WPP Open for B2B  and help clients deliver more effective advertising campaigns.” 

IBM has already begun deploying the new platform within its marketing and communications  organization. WPP Open for B2B powered by watsonx combines the open capabilities of WPP  Open, IBM watsonx and Red Hat OpenShift. 

IBM Consulting is the primary change management consulting partner for the solution.