“WPP is forming a super agency by uniting its two leading brands Y&R and VML under the VMLY&R umbrella, marking one of the first big moves under new WPP CEO Mark Read,” MediaPost reports. “This new mega-agency is designed to combine the best of both worlds, drawing on the strengths of Y&R’s brand advertising and brand-building capabilities with the creativity and digital DNA of VML.”

The agency will employ more than 7,000 people and will serve as one of WPP’s “principal brands,” the story reports. It is expected to become fully operational in early 2019.

“Clients under this new rebrand will include Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Ford, Office Depot, PepsiCo, Pfizer and Wendy’s,” MediaPost notes, adding: “VMLY&R will be led by Global CEO Jon Cook, who is currently Global CEO of VML, reporting to Read.”

The report quotes Cook saying the move is prompted by an interest in making WPP “more powerful. More simple.”

“We had the opportunity to do something that brings creativity, technology and data together at a scale never done before,” Cook adds.