WeWork acquires Conductor, becomes a digital marketing provider

Dive Brief:

WeWork announced in a blog post today that it's acquiring content marketing services provider Conductor as part of the coworking giant's strategy of providing members with the tools they need to run their businesses. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and Conductor will continue to operate independently.
Conductor works with over 1,000 brands, including Citibank, Salesforce, CVS and Gap. WeWork has been a customer of Conductor since 2016. The digital marketing platform helps these businesses improve their online presence through relevant, high-quality content as an alternative to traditional ad-serving models for acquiring new customers.
Large companies with more than 1,000 employees now make up nearly 25% of WeWork's total members and are the fastest growing segment of its business. WeWork hopes to make Conductor available to these members to help them drive results.

Dive Insight:

WeWork has clearly signaled its aspirations to extend its reach beyond coworking into other areas of service that members might need, with digital marketing now clearly in the company's sights through the deal with Conductor. WeWork also acquired Meetup late last year to help people meet in real life, bought Lord & Taylor's flagship New York City store, launched Power by We to help companies design their own office spaces and has several educational partnerships in place. These moves show how WeWork, as it strives for continued growth, is looking beyond the startups and small businesses that were its focus when it launched with a bigger focus on large enterprises.

"Together, we can help large companies expand their digital presence and deliver customer value through digital content," WeWork said about the deal on its blog.

Both WeWork and Conductor already have relationships with many large companies that are exploring new ways of doing business, whether through coworking or content marketing. By teaming up, they hope to quickly scale Conductor's business at a time when large brand marketers are rethinking their relationships with traditional agencies and exploring strategies beyond ads, which consumers increasingly dislike. Content marketing is one of the more promising areas for marketers looking to engage digital consumers outside of ads, with the global content marketing industry expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 16% over the next few years.

Conductor, with WeWork's support, believes it's well-positioned for a prominent role as organic marketing becomes increasingly important.

"We aspire to be the world's greatest modern marketing platform," said Seth Besmertnik, Conductor"s CEO. "We plan to launch educational marketing programs around the world. We are going to scale faster. We will help enterprise brands deliver incredible value to their customers." Besmertnik will continue in his role under the new partnership.