• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, April 5, 2019

WPP has opened a new campus in Amsterdam that brings together 15 of the holding company’s agencies doing business in the market.

The Amsterdam facility, which will house 1,500 employees, is the latest in a string of recently co-located operations around the world. All are designed to save costs and foster greater collaboration among multiple agencies serving the same client.

During an earnings call last month, the firm noted it has consolidated offices and real estate holdings in 70 markets and counting. It’s also in the process of closing 80 offices, over 50 have already shuttered.

Among the agencies in the newly renovated Amsterdam space are Ogilvy and Hogarth, which has just launched a Netherlands operation.

WPP’s architectural and design consultancy BDG refurbished a 40-plus year-old abandoned office building in Amsterdam, renamed Amsteldok.

WPP design studio VBAT, based in the city, worked with the relocating agencies to name the campus and develop its new branding.

Other holding companies have launched similar initiatives. Several years ago, Havas Group began creating co-locations it has dubbed “villages’’ in numerous markets.