Bringing Intelligence & Insight to Integrated Communication: How VMLY&R Amman is revolutionizing the way brands and businesses connect with their customers

As most communication-sector professionals will tell you, siloed communication practices are quickly becoming a thing of the past. That’s not to say that dedicated marketing and public relations and social media companies will suddenly cease to exist—it’s simply that the borders and limitations of these practices are blurring, expanding, and overlapping. Your marketing agency is likely engaged in everything from social media to digital communication, and your PR provider may very well seem to have a similar scope of work.

In fact, ‘scope of work’ might be an increasingly irrelevant term.

“Scope of work doesn’t really exist anymore,” explains the Managing Director of VMLY&R Amman, Ivan Milovanovic. “Agencies need to be flexible and agile enough to handle all aspects of communication, and to be able to adapt to new trends.” Milovanovic understands this better than most: with the recent merger of VML and Y&R, his agency has undergone a rapid transformation in terms of how it operates. Today, VMLY&R exemplifies the idea of ‘integrated communication’ – which isn’t what most practitioners seem to think it is.

Redefining Integration

“Integrated communication doesn’t mean 360-degree integration—it’s more specific than that,” says Milovanovic. “It’s about integrating data and digital insights into communication, so that you can meet customers where they are, tailor messages to their expectations, and fit their mood in a truly intelligent, seamless manner.” With this kind of integration, brands can connect with their audiences more subtly, more meaningfully, and more often.

This is where the merger between VML—a pioneer in digital insights—and creative giant Y&R has truly changed the game in terms of digital integration.

Tapping into the digital data and resources of VML, VMLY&R Amman is able to offer its clients unrivalled opportunities to connect meaningfully with their target audiences. As Milovanovic says, “With these kinds of insights, we can tell you what your customer is doing at any given time of day, and we can tailor communication tools and messages to their mood, their desires, and their expectations.” With this novel approach to data and integration, VMLY&R understands consumer behavior better than anyone else in the market, and has revolutionized the way it connects with clients’ target audiences—in large part by transforming the way it operates internally. “Our client servicing professionals are involved in every aspect of a client’s communications—from branding to online and out-of-home advertising, to social media and influencer marketing,” Milovanovic explains. Essentially, the team is structured in a way that ensures they have a finger on the pulse of absolutely every way customers are engaging with their clients’ brands.

Global Insights & Global Ambitions

As part of this strategic focus on integrating meaningful consumer insights into its work, the agency also chose to invest in the Global Web Index, a worldwide database of digital consumer data that offers an extraordinary depth and breadth of market research insights. With this kind of information at VMLY&R Amman’s fingertips, the agency is pushing its ambitions beyond Jordan’s borders: recently, Milovanovic and his team acquired several large, regional clients—a series of wins that is all but unprecedented for the local communication sector.

In addition to elevating its international profile, business growth like this is allowing VMLY&R Amman to invest even further in its own resources and talent: in particular, the agency has been building up its content creation department. “For example,” Milovanovic says, “we’ve recently hired a dedicated TikTok creator, who is able to use our robust resources and insights to create really innovative, impactful content for our clients.”

Bringing Innovation Back Home

As part of the Kingdom’s leading communications group, MENACOM Jordan, VMLY&R Amman has always benefited from access to a wide range of 360-degree insights. Now the agency is returning the favor, so to speak. With all of its newly acquired data and resources, VMLY&R Amman is working to elevate the insights available to all six agencies under the MENACOM umbrella.

This is especially great news for the group’s clients, and the payoff has already been well-observed: some of MENACOM Jordan’s largest clients are witnessing their best business results in the last decade, even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And VMLY&R’s capabilities are allowing it to offer services that are still largely untapped in the Kingdom, such as Google Maps advertising, streaming partnerships with platforms like Netflix and OSN, and product placements within local and regional consumer content.

And although VMLY&R Amman has a reputation for working with larger, more established businesses, the agency is always eager to invest in small brands it believes in. “When we work with smaller brands, it’s all about long-term thinking,” explains Milovanovic. “We are always willing to invest in small businesses when we see potential for sustainable growth and success. And with the integrated resources and data we have at our fingertips, it’s easier than ever to build up brands using limited platforms and smaller budgets.”

Above all, the agency’s unique approach to integrated communication is demonstrating that the local communication sector is capable of considerably more creativity, intelligence, and insight than most in the industry are currently tapping into—and VMLY&R Amman is quickly pushing itself, and the rest of MENACOM Jordan, well out into the forefront.