• by Larissa Faw , December 11, 2018

Interpublic’s Jack Morton and its tech shop Genuine are creating an innovation unit that is tasked with developing "future-forward" experiences, products and services.

The new unit, Genuine X, will be similar to an innovation practice inside sibling agency R/GA, offering expertise in content, emerging technology and data. 

Jack Morton's Executive Creative Director Damian Ferrar will shift from that role to serve as this new practice's global head and lead a team of largely non-traditional agency workers, including creative technologists, filmmakers, game designers, and data analysts.

Key members include Creative Technology Director Sebastien Jouhans, who joins from R/GA; director of experiential technology; Rob Brecher, who previously worked at Genuine, director of strategy; Jillian Curran, who departs from MTV; and creative director Martyn Gooding, who joins from Gravity Thinking.

Genuine X  launches with three partnerships to bolster its offering from the start.

Emotion analysis service EMRAYS will analyze the emotional impact of live brand experiences by predicting human reactions to different designs and concepts through AI simulation.

Separately, voice experience platform Voicify will concentrate on voice search strategies and  and the UK government's tech agency Immerse UK will enable the shop to work with additional academic institutions and tech start-ups as well as develop products and services separate from individual client briefs.

“Technology is creating amazing new opportunities for brand experience," says Ferrar. "Genuine X is a new way of thinking, and a new way of working, which will allow us to harness the most relevant emerging technologies to help our clients win in an ever more disruptive marketplace.”

Initially Genuine X will kick off projects in London and Boston, with Dubai expected to debut in early 2019.