Truffle Pig: WPP, Daily Mail and Snapchat just formed an ad agency to create social content
The world's biggest advertising group, WPP, the world's biggest online publisher, the Daily Mail, and startup sweetheart Snapchat have formed the media equivalent of a musical supergroup to get adverts in front of eyeballs.
The trio have launched an ambitious new venture forging together the world of technology, advertising and publishing with the creation of an ad agency called Truffle Pig. It will focus on creating so-called native advertising – content which is paid for by brands but which appears seamlessly among editorial content.
WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell, 25-year old Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel and the Daily Mail's North America boss Jon Steinberg launched the agency at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Read more: Four things people really think about native advertising
The move comes as the crossover between media and technology and particularly new social platforms becomes increasingly tied up together.
Snapchat, which is reportedly valued at $16bn, recently started working with brands and publishers to produce "curated content" in a bid to monetise the platform and has an audience of young engaged users.
Meanwhile, WPP and the Daily Mail bring global reach and years of experience working with advertisers to the table. The Daily Mail also boasts the largest audience for any English language newspaper website in the world with mailonline.com, averaging 11.3m global browsers every day.
Read more: How much is Snapchat worth? Four charts showing just how big Snapchat’s valuation is
Truffle Pig will create digital content for brands, focused on socially shareable multimedia such as video, Gifs and infographics, as well as social media management and audience development. Mailonline.com, Elitedaily.com and Snapchat will serve as a "test bed" for content, but it will be designed for use across digital platforms.
The ad agency, which each partner is understood to have an equity stake in, will work with all advertisers and publishers, and not just those in the WPP stable or those with existing partnerships with Snapchat and the Daily Mail.
The agency will be based in New York and serve the US initially and will be lead by Alexander Jutkowitz, the chief of SJR, part of WPP's communications agency H+K Strategies.