With global influencer marketing spend set to hit $22.2 billion by 2025, according to Statista, WPP is tapping into the burgeoning market with the acquisition of The Goat Agency, one of the most promising agencies in the space.

The agency, which offers data-lend influencer marketing campaigns, was founded in 2015 by CEO Arron Shepherd and co-founders Nick Cooke and Harry Hugo. It has since grown to employ more than 150 members of staff working with brands such as Dell, Beiersdorf, Meta, Tesco, Uber, EA, Natura and Augustinus Bader.

In the last eight years, it claims to have tracked the performance of more than 50,000 influencer channels and more than 250,000 pieces of content too.

The acquisition will see Goat join GroupM and merge with its current influencer marketing offer INCA and as part of the media performance organization Nexus. This will create a new influencer company of more than 300 employees operating across more than 30 markets.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said influencer marketing was “a key growth priority” for both the industry and the agency network. 

“Our clients are increasingly planning budgets at a global scale and require partners that have the global reach to help deliver, whilst driving engagement and impact at a local level. Goat’s proven track record in the influencer marketing space paired with GroupM’s record of excellence will continue to build on our unparalleled expertise in this area,” Read added.

According to a report released by Grand View Research, the global influencer marketing platform market size was valued at $10.39 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 33.4% from 2022 to 2030.

GroupM global CEO Christian Juhl added that influencer marketing was “an exciting growth area” for the business and one that clients were looking for on a global scale.

“The addition of Goat to GroupM as part of GroupM Nexus gives us the ability to deliver accountable, cross-channel, and data-driven influencer solutions for clients anywhere in the world. Combined with the exceptional talent at INCA, we expect Goat to play a critical role in helping us define the next era of media at GroupM,” he said.