• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 22, 2012

WPP’s Mindshare is teaming with Google in a new global venture designed to educate companies about mobile technology and expedite their use of the medium in their marketing plans.

The venture, called the “Mobile Garage,” will start with teams of Mindshare and Google specialists in New York, London and Singapore. Mindshare clients will have access to the teams, which will provide expertise on search optimization, app development, strategic planning and other aspects of the mobile sector that clients can utilize as they evolve within the mobile space.

“Working with Google on mobile will give our clients a competitive advantage in a key battleground both now and for the future,” said Nick Emery, CEO Mindshare Worldwide.

Emery, who was promoted to the top post at the media shop earlier this year, added: "We designed Mindshare to be open source and to work with the best partners for the benefit of our clients. It’s about trial, experimentation and the speed to redesign our business.”

Mindshare currently works with sibling WPP mobile shops Joule and H-Art. The Mobile Garage venture will complement those existing relationships. Google, in turn, will have access to Mindshare clients and gain a better understanding of marketer expectations within the sector.

According to the agency, mobile search traffic has increased 400% over the past two years and will continue to grow sharply. And as marketers say they are struggling to keep up with developments in the industry, mobile trade group GSMA and research firm Machina predict there will be 24 billion connected devices by 2020, comprising a $4.5 trillion industry.

Matt Brittin, vice president, sales and operations, Northern and Central Europe at Google, stated: "We have adopted a 'mobile first' philosophy at Google to keep pace with the rapid acceleration in consumer mobile usage."