Tongue and DT will join forces to give WPP AUNZ a top ideas and creative technology agency.

 The combined agency will have more than 220 staff, and much more scale to consult, create ideas, design and then build the solutions that meet all of a marketer’s needs.

WPP AUNZ chief executive officer, Michael Connaghan, commented, “Both DT and Tongue are performing at their peak, with DT posting its most successful 12 months on record. Similarly, Tongue has had its best year creatively and financially since inception. Bringing them together aligns with WPP AUNZ’s ‘fewer, bigger, better, stronger’ strategy, and merges two successful agencies to create an even more robust business.”

DT chief executive officer, Brian Vella, added “Tongue joining DT creates a more powerful player with ideas and innovation at its core, and diverse expertise that few can compete with – deep strategic capability, and creativity and technology working together to create world class brand experiences.”

Both DT and Tongue will retain 100% of their staff, only adding more capabilities for clients and creating more opportunity for their respective teams.

Tongue managing partner, John Du Vernet, noted, “The modern Chief Marketing Officer is a new breed.  They adapt to answer market shifts or emerging trends with agility. They demand style with substance. Creativity with technology. The modern CMO requires deep understanding of today’s customer behaviour. Now DT will deliver a reimagined take on brand experiences like no other.”

“Merging design, technology and complex delivery with ideas that motivate people to talk and act, is a rare combination.”

The Tongue name will cease to exist. The new DT will work at WPP AUNZ’s Kent St campus in Sydney. Tongue’s Du Vernet has become managing director;  Jonathan Pease, chief creative officer;  Tim Sexton moves to a newly created, national employee experience role ad DT’s Brian Vella will remain chief executive officer.

This is the second merger in the last three years that DT has undertaken. Mobile game, application and education specialist, Millipede, joined the business in 2014. Since joining forces with DT, Millipede has doubled in size and won new assignments with the Australian Department of Education, Boost Juice and Metro Trains Melbourne on the globally respected and award winning Dumb Ways to Die applications (presently over 200 million downloads).