The Interpublic Group has created a new global internet services
network, Zentropy, which brings together a raft of disparate web
operations under one roof.
In the UK, Zentropy Partners combines Shandwick Interactive and most of
the staff of APL Digital. It will be headed by Shandwick’s Simone
Barratt and APL’s Alastair Duncan as joint managing directors and have
46 staff. Clients at launch include Shell, Alta Vista and Compaq.
Globally, Zentropy will have 500 staff and a turnover of dollars 50
million with offices in Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Lyon,
Minneapolis, New York, Paris, San Francisco, St Louis and Toronto.
Unlike many web design operations, Zentropy aims to offer a complete e-
business solution, offering strategy, design and systems integration
services.
Duncan said: ’There are three types of business in the market: web
designers, systems integrators and consultancies.
’If you take those three and combine them with a customer-centric
approach you get what Zentropy is offering and what is missing from
elsewhere in the market.’
In the US, Zentropy Partners brings together Anderson & Lembke
Interactive; Hill, Holliday Interactive; Shandwick Interactive, and
Thunder House among other companies.
The new company will be headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and
will be headed by John Connors III, the son of the Hill, Holliday,
Connors, Cosmopulos chairman, Jack Connors.
Zentropy will operate as a standalone network, but it will use IPG’s
global resources to help support the growing number of clients looking
to develop their internet strategies across multiple markets and
cultures.
