WPP AUNZ has launched a stakeholder and community engagement agency to cater for the group’s government and private sector clients.

The Bond & Associates will provide research, data, policy, communications, engagement and government sector expertise to clients around complex public projects and services.

The agency will be led by national director Gail Morgan, who was previously an advisor at corporate communications and public affairs agency Newgate Australia.

The launch comes as Australia experiences “unprecedented infrastructure spending”, according to WPP AUNZ PR & PA CEO Kieran Moore.

“We understand that our clients are navigating increasingly complex operating environments. Dealing with three, four or more agencies in different locations to deliver the communications required for these projects is now a thing of the past. The Bond & Associates has been designed to give clients one point of access to the breadth of capabilities and services needed to engage effectively, without adding complexity to the agency management process.

“With unprecedented infrastructure spending across the country and greater focus expected on service and policy delivery in the future, the demand is already high with further growth in this sector expected. Teamed with an increased understanding by all governments of the critical influence stakeholders can play on policy and service delivery, the time is right for us to create a competitive offer in this space, for the current and future requirements of clients.”

Morgan said, “Stakeholder and community engagement has never been more important and from my experience, clients are looking for smarter and more sophisticated engagement strategies embedded into the design of services, infrastructure, policies and programs. This not only improves community outcomes but is critical for private sector and government investment success.”

The launch comes as WPP's Australian and New Zealand business continues to tinker with its agency line-up. Earlier this year it launched WPP AUNZ Consulting, a strategic consulting division while last February it launched crisis management agency Scout.

It follows a spate of consolidation last year, when WPP merged a number of agencies including digital agencies AKQA and DT, design shops Landor and Designworks and advertising agencies The White Agency and Grey.