• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, January 10, 2013

WPP has merged its publishing content marketing agency Forward with Tenthavenue, which was formed in 2011 to oversee a number of the holding company’s global out-of-home and related assets.

Forward is the latest specialist shop to be folded under the Tenthavenue portfolio of agencies. It also oversees Spafax, a separate content shop; Kinetic, the out-of-home agency; and Joule, the mobile marketing agency. Collectively, Tenthavenue has 56 offices across 24 countries worldwide.

Commenting on the merger, Rupert Day, CEO of Tenthavenue stated: “Forward, with its offices in the UK and China, builds on Tenthavenue’s capability to deliver relevant content aligned with specific client objectives across different environments.”

Forward was established 26 years ago and became part of the WPP group in 2001. It opened one of its first international offices in China in June of last year. It specializes in creating custom, targeted content designed to build brand loyalty and drive sales. The shop creates content for a number of channels, including printed magazines, Web sites, online magazines and content-rich emails.

Simon Hobbs, CEO of Forward, stated that the shop's capabilities “sit really well with Tenthavenue’s, and we believe that Joule’s mobile offering and Kinetic’s outdoor specialism, combined and aligned with our content offering, will be very attractive to clients.” Combining its strengths with sister content shop Spafax will add strength to Tenthavenue’s growing global network, he added.