• by Larissa Faw , September 19, 2017

WPP's live experience agency SET LIVE is opening its first North American office to service U.S. clients, such as Verizon.

A sibling of experience design and strategy agency SET, the unit incorporates user experience and design capabilities to introduce sponsorship activations, exhibitions and stage shows.

One recent project was the 'YouTube Beach' activation during the 2017 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

The New York office will be led by managing director Alan Doyle, along with a leadership team including technical director and George P. Johnson alum Martin Szymanski and global executive creative director Guy Tremlett.

Doyle says SET Live North America will leverage its global footprint and draw knowledge from combined European and local expertise. “We’re creative people, whose desire to innovate, to build something new and compelling is innate. It’s also because it’s this kind of work that is the most effective at meeting the client’s needs, that gets people engaged, talking and sharing.”

There are already plans for additional North American expansion. WPP will open another office in Portland later this year.