Omnicom/IPG (or whatever it’s going to be called, Omnicom probably) has been given the green light by the EU, meaning the creation of the world’s biggest ad holding group can go ahead. There are certain conditions in the US (chiefly don’t annoy Donald Trump or whoever happens happens to be his best friend at the time) but the process has been pretty seamless.
Will the post-merger fortunes of the $26bn revenue group be as smooth? Omnicom/IPG has the benefit of size (WPP and Publicis Groupe both have revenues around $14/15bn) and a secure base in the US market, still the world’s biggest.
Media and tech are currently where the money is and both Omnicom and IPG have been busily acquiring tech bits to try to catch up Publicis, seemingly with some success although Publicis with its data caves scattered across the world still appears to rule. Creative networks these days are rather like unwanted guests at a wedding although they were responsible for the growth of both groups in the first instance: Omnicom with BBDO, DDB and TBWA and IPG with McCann and FCB. The venerable DDB may be a casualty of the merger.
The biggest casualty of the merger, strangely, looks like Japan’s Dentsu, at least its international operation. As Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun has noted, the battle for big global accounts has now come down to three and Dentsu – despite its still sizeable media network Carat – isn’t one of them.
WPP, under new CEO Cindy Rose, may just hang in there but any company whose debt matches its market value (as WPP’s does) must be vulnerable. One might wonder where all that money from selling Kantar (where former CEO Mark Read is headed) and FGS Global went.
So there we are: Omnicom is now up there to be shot at. Publicis’ Sadoun says he’s not interested in a catch-up deal (like Carat for example) but happy to grow organically. He may change his mind if the new Omnicom tightens its hold on the US market, also Publicis’ biggest.
