WPP agencies have worked with governments, NGO's, donor agencies for decades, helping them draft, design and implement better policies, all in an effort to improve the lives of citizens, as it is through effective communication with citizens and other stakeholders that the impact of these interventions can be accurately measured and monitored.
Key areas of activity include: communications for development; communications for public policy and services; programme evaluation, socio-economic and impact assessment initiatives; behaviour change programmes, public sentiment, country branding and tourism, trade and investment marketing; and digital government.
The Practice will give public sector organisations a single point of access to WPP's combined global resources, bringing together multidisciplinary teams of agencies to meet clients' needs.
It will also be a hub for WPP's best thinking on government communications and our companies' experience of "what works". It will partner with leading academics and innovators on research and development as well as on policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, said: "Government policies rarely succeed if the communication fails. I am proud of our agencies' role in supporting governments around the world, providing the expertise that makes public policy and public service achieve the desired impact. The new practice builds on our long track record of world-class work for the public sector."
The Practice will be led by Dr Michelle Harrison, who is also CEO of TNS BMRB, the UK's leading social research agency.
Harrison said: "This practice is timely because we are seeing a paradigm shift in the way governments think about the role of communications in delivering public policy. Some of the most pressing problems of the 21st century will be best solved by government working in partnership with citizens to help them make the right choices. That puts deep citizen insight, human understanding and creativity at the heart of successful policymaking."
WPP agencies currently work for governments in over 60 countries, as well as for numerous multilateral organisations, public organisations, and regional and local governments.
Ivan Motlogeloa, Director of New Business Development at TNS in South Africa, and the WPP Government and Public Sector practice lead for the agency, commented: "we are really excited about this in the South African context. TNS conducts extensive research for the Public Sector and bringing together this experience with that of our sister communications agencies will provide our clients a service of ensuring high impact in behaviour change and communication campaigns."
About TNS
TNS advises governments, NGO's, donor agencies, academic institutions and policy makers in the public sector information and direction to help them draft, design and implement better policies, with the end goal of serving South African citizens better. This differs from TNS' other practice areas, in that the goal is not to help client sell more, as much as it is to help them use TNS's expertise and resources to improve lives through the TNS stakeholder satisfaction research.
TNS South Africa has a specialised social-political research unit that includes experts in a fast range of academic disciplines. TNS' Pol-Soc research areas include policy development, behaviour change, political and social polling, programme evaluation, social media analytics, corporate social responsibility research and qualitative research.
With a presence in over 80 countries, TNS has more conversations with the world's consumers than anyone else and understands individual human behaviours and attitudes across every cultural, economic and political region of the world.
TNS is part of Kantar, one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy groups.
