The merger will not result in layoffs, and has prompted the agency to hire senior-level positions in its sustainability and environment practice and digital media, according to Hunt.
"Everybody always wants efficiency and that's something we've independently strived for in both companies, but [efficiency isn't] driv[ing] the merger," he said.
When asked about client conflicts that emerged from the new venture, Hunt said the majority of conflicts were in the healthcare sector, but the creation of GCI Health largely resolved these issues.
The merger will not impact Enfatico, WPP's global marketing services firm being built with Dell as its first client. Dell was a major GCI Group client.
"[GCI has] been helping to migrate the integrated resources into [Enfatico]," said Hunt. "While Dell was a big client for GCI, it now is a big client for Enfatico and most of that transition has already taken place."
The merged agency will support Enfatico in delivering services for Dell in some areas, such as with work in Mexico, Canada, and Latin American markets, he added.
"In some of the secondary markets where Enfatico won't be opening an office, Cohn &Wolfe and other WPP agencies will provide support," he said.
The merger will also result in a tighter alignment with two other WPP agencies: Quinn Gillespie & Associates and Schematic.
"We're not going to own [Quinn Gillespie] but they will be our preferred partner to build out our public affairs capability in Washington," he said.
Initially plans to announce the merger were slated for the end of the month, but media queries and industry rumors prompted the agencies to go public sooner.
"It was a tradeoff because there were some exciting things we were going to use to launch the brand with our employees," Hunt noted. "But I think the trade-off of keeping them well-informed was well worth it."
C&W and GCI management notified employees of the merger after a July 2 conference call among the agencies' offices, according to Imperato, who added that, within weeks, she and Hunt will visit offices and the combined agency will unveil a new logo.
The merged agency consulted Landor to construct its branding strategy.
“We contemplated a new name for the combined agency but felt like that end up costing us momentum,” he said. “While we're keeping the name, a lot is going to change. We told both of our employees - everyone is coming to work at a new company tomorrow.”
The new agency plans to implement “provocative” HR practices to recruit a new generation of PR professionals. Hunt said staffing projections will be determined by economic conditions.
"But the new company has ambitious growth goals and we want to grow faster than the industry average," he said.
Because the two agencies have worked closely for several years most the challenges of integrating senior teams and systems have mostly been addressed, he added.
"The biggest obstacles also come when you have a lot overlap but we don't have markets that overlap," he said. "Certainly they'll be challenges but the obvious ones aren't presenting themselves."
Cohn & Wolfe maintains five offices in the US: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Toronto; GCI also has five US offices: New York; Atlanta; Austin, TX; San Francisco; and Chicago. GCI has 30 wholly-owned offices and 28 partly-owned offices outside of the US, and C&W has 11 international offices, according to PRWeek's Agency Business Report.