DUBAI: The newly formed WPP agency, VMLY&R Commerce, has promoted Debbie Ellison, chief digital officer, Geometry UK, to global chief digital officer with immediate effect.
In this newly created role, Debbie will be responsible for driving new business opportunities, revenue streams and enhanced capabilities for both the agency and its clients. She will identify and deliver digital commerce solutions to support clients and their digital transformation agendas across markets.
The global position comes as businesses continue to change and evolve their strategies — especially e-commerce — with GroupM estimating that global retail e-commerce will hit a staggering $3.9 trillion in 2020 (excluding food and delivery services).
VMLY&R Commerce was formed in November 2020 by fusing WPP’s Geometry and VMLY&R businesses. The new agency sits within the VMLY&R group under the leadership of Beth Ann Kaminkow, current global CEO of VMLY&R Commerce and former Geometry Global CEO.
“Clients want outstanding creative innovation, powered by technology expertise and delivered at a global scale,” Kaminkow said. “Debbie’s new role is designed precisely to meet those needs and is another important step forward in accelerating our end-to-end commerce solution to drive client growth. We’re thrilled to expand her talent and leadership across our global network.”
The new role will see Ellison join the VMLY&R Commerce global executive board while retaining her role as UK chief digital officer. She will also continue to sit on VMLY&R Commerce’s Global IE&D and WPP’s Roots steering committee.
Under her leadership, the agency launched “The Flagship,” a physical, immersive space using 360 projection mapping to recreate retail environments, and “Social Commerce+” in collaboration with Social.Lab, which connects social media to commercial uplift.
“My focus is to strengthen and scale our end-to-end commerce offer using our proprietary products and services, such as Social Commerce+ — a capability using social to drive commercial growth for clients. The next generation of The Flagship (our immersive 360 projection mapping to recreate over 140 retail environments) will also be developed to help brands visualize and test the future of commerce,” Ellison said. “I’m honored to collaborate with our brilliant teams to accelerate growth for clients through connected, digital commerce experiences. I look forward to scaling our successes globally,” she said.
