The agency is to be known as mSearch and already counts companies such as IBM, Ford and Sony as clients.
It has been formed by rebranding AdvancePositions.com, which was founded in 1998 and acquired by WPP in 2000 to form part of OgilvyOne. MSearch will fall into the mOne division, which was formed by the merger of the interactive divisions of MindShare and OgilvyOne in July 2003.
Richard Collins, former CEO of mOne, takes the role of worldwide CEO of mSearch, and Mike Chowney, who was managing director of AdvancePositions.com, has been named head of international at mSearch.
Collins said: "AdvancePositions.com was a dotcom brand, and we felt it didn't encapsulate the global reach of our specialist search engine marketing business. In recent months, there has been a definite consolidation and globalisation of the market, and mSearch is ideally placed to take leadership."
MSearch will offer services such as managing pay-per-click advertising and bids for keywords, as well as natural search optimisation.
WPP pointed to the growth of online sales at Christmas, compared with the fall for high-street retailers, and said that this made it essential for brands to be visible online. The company says that search engine marketing is the key to online sales.
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