WPP acquires InfoSum to strengthen AI-driven data capabilities
Strategic acquisition bolsters WPP's data infrastructure as privacy concerns intensify.
WPP announced the acquisition of InfoSum, a leading data collaboration platform that enables companies to connect data sources securely without moving or exposing the underlying data. The announcement comes as companies worldwide face increasing challenges with privacy regulations and the deprecation of third-party identifiers.
The acquisition represents a significant development in the marketing technology landscape, occurring on April 3, 2025, just three days ago from today's date. This move positions WPP to offer enhanced data collaboration capabilities to clients while maintaining strict privacy standards in an increasingly regulated global environment.
According to Mark Read, CEO of WPP, "At WPP, we have been building the technology and data infrastructure that will give our clients a unique competitive advantage in the AI era. Bringing InfoSum into WPP is a major step forward for our data capabilities and the results we can deliver for our clients. It allows clients to stay in complete control of their first-party data, while also giving them access to vastly greater quantities of high-quality, privacy-compliant data and pioneering technology that is not available anywhere else in the market today."
InfoSum will join GroupM, WPP's media investment group, to power the creation of new AI-enhanced marketing solutions. The integration of InfoSum's technology with WPP Open, the company's intelligent marketing operating system, enables clients to safely leverage their customer data through advanced AI applications.
Technical infrastructure powering secure data collaboration
InfoSum's patented cross-cloud data collaboration technology fundamentally transforms how companies generate audience intelligence. The platform makes it possible to connect data sources across the marketing ecosystem without moving or exposing data to other parties.
The acquisition gives WPP immediate access to what they describe as the industry's largest cross-platform source of privacy-safe, actionable data for marketing intelligence, audience targeting, and AI model training. This represents a significant advancement at a time when traditional identity-based solutions face challenges from cookie deprecation, platform fragmentation, and declining audience match rates.
Brian Lesser, CEO of GroupM, commented, "Directly integrating InfoSum's global data network and technology infrastructure will allow our clients to create even more value from their first-party data and enable us to train client AI models against the most data, from the most places, at unprecedented scale and speed."
The technology employs federated learning techniques, allowing WPP clients to generate marketing intelligence based on their first-party data combined with data signals available through the InfoSum network, WPP's data assets, and GroupM's media intelligence. This approach enables clients to build, train, and deploy custom AI models using these diverse datasets while maintaining data privacy.
The decline of third-party identifiers
The timing of this acquisition aligns with significant industry changes as third-party cookies and identifiers become increasingly unstable. According to InfoSum documentation, 137 countries have enacted modern data privacy laws covering 79.3% of the world's population as of March 2024, with numerous GDPR fines already issued across Europe and similar regulations emerging in other regions.
The acquisition accelerates WPP's creation of what they term "Intelligence Beyond Identity" for clients. This approach aims to help marketers use complete business intelligence rather than relying on traditional identity-based solutions that depend on deteriorating databases weakened by cookie deprecation and other technical changes.
InfoSum's data network represents hundreds of billions of data signals across multiple dimensions from major media platforms including Channel 4, DIRECTV, ITV, Netflix, News Corp, and Samsung Ads, as well as major retailers and identity and data partners including Experian, TransUnion, Circana, Dynata, and NCSolutions.
How the technology functions
InfoSum's platform provides a decentralized approach to data collaboration. Data remains under each party's control, never being pooled or commingled. This architecture has proven attractive to agencies concerned about liability or accidental leakage of client data.
According to InfoSum documentation, the company's data clean room technology ensures that "data is never shared. Clean rooms should eliminate the need to handle raw client data and safeguard the interests of both agencies and advertisers."
The platform enables companies to create secure data environments optimized for federated learning, allowing marketers to scale custom AI models and onboard data faster than previously possible. InfoSum's infrastructure will remain interoperable with existing platforms and partners to ensure current and future customers can continue using secure data collaboration.
Lauren Wetzel, CEO of InfoSum, added, "InfoSum's mission has always been to reimagine how data powers marketing in a secure, privacy-first, and, most importantly, impactful way for advertisers and consumers. WPP and GroupM are the perfect partners to help us accelerate our impact on a truly global scale."
Benefits for media agencies and brands
WPP's acquisition comes at a time when media agencies are evolving from passive participants in data strategy to active orchestrators of complex data collaborations. According to InfoSum materials, agencies historically focused primarily on executing media buys but now increasingly manage sophisticated data networks connecting brands, media owners, and data partners.
This acquisition positions WPP agencies to build what InfoSum calls "private data networks" – controlled, collaborative data environments that enable secure, scalable, and cost-efficient data collaboration across brands, media owners, retailers, and platforms without sharing raw data.
The technology provides several key advantages for marketing professionals:
- It enables precise media planning and targeting by connecting first-, second-, and third-party data while maintaining privacy
- It unlocks consumer insights by securely connecting advertiser first-party data to identity frameworks and strategic partners
- It optimizes cross-channel budget allocation by matching advertiser data with intelligence from multiple media owners
- It delivers advanced analytics and measurement by connecting sales and conversion data to exposure data without sharing sensitive information
Case studies cited by InfoSum demonstrate significant performance improvements, including an 18% increase in conversion rates for Renault using first-party data targeting compared to cookie-based approaches, and a 31% increase in account applications for UK bank TSB through secure first-party data targeting.
Leadership structure
As part of the acquisition, Lauren Wetzel will remain CEO of InfoSum while also taking on the additional role of Chief Solutions Officer for GroupM. In this capacity, Wetzel will work cross-functionally to develop data-driven products and solutions for clients of WPP and GroupM.
The acquisition marks a significant shift in WPP's data strategy and reinforces the growing importance of privacy-enhancing technologies in marketing. By integrating InfoSum's capabilities, WPP aims to provide clients with tools that balance data utility with stringent privacy protections in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.
Why this matters for marketing professionals
The acquisition highlights several critical developments that marketing professionals should consider:
- The increasing fragmentation of media requires new approaches to cross-channel planning and measurement
- First-party data has become vital as third-party identifiers fade, yet requires enhanced security and protection
- Privacy regulations continue to expand globally, necessitating technology solutions that maintain compliance
- Agencies are evolving into orchestrators of complex data collaborations rather than simply executing media buys
- Decentralized data collaboration models are gaining traction as they reduce liability while enhancing data utility
Timeline
- April 3, 2025: WPP announces acquisition of InfoSum
- March 2024: 137 countries have enacted modern data privacy laws covering 79.3% of world population
- 2019: InfoSum launches its data collaboration platform
- 2015: InfoSum founded with the vision to connect data without sharing it