Commarco

Mid-tier German marketing holding group within the WPP network, anchored by the Scholz & Friends creative agency brand

Commarco GmbH was a German marketing-services holding company that served as the umbrella group for several prominent agencies, most notably Scholz & Friends, deepblue networks, and gkk DialogGroup. Founded in the early 2000s, the group positioned itself as a comprehensive marketing and communications network in the German-speaking market, offering integrated services spanning creative advertising, digital marketing, and direct/dialog marketing under one organizational roof. In 2011, WPP — the global advertising and communications giant — acquired Commarco, bringing its portfolio of agencies into the WPP network. This acquisition gave WPP a stronger foothold in the German market and added Scholz & Friends, one of Germany's most respected creative agencies, to its roster of owned brands. The holding structure allowed the constituent agencies to maintain their distinct identities and client relationships while benefiting from WPP's global resources and scale. In 2020, the Commarco brand was retired and the group was rebranded as Scholz & Friends Family, reflecting the prominence of the Scholz & Friends name within the portfolio. The Scholz & Friends Family brand continues to operate today as part of WPP, consolidating the group's identity around its flagship creative agency while maintaining the integrated, multi-discipline service offering that defined Commarco's original proposition.