Dwayne Waite Jr’s Post

🚨 Is this - a mega merger between two major agency holdcos - a sign of the times for the largest agency businesses? Is this the only way to create ‘value’ now? 🤔 I have a lot of respect for IPG. After all they acquired our last business, but a sting of losses has left it floundering as Publicis accelerates away with its data led USP. 😳 And this feels like a desperate attempt to hold off shareholders and save the jobs of those at the very top of the respective organizations. 😬 Is this now the only strategy left to create shareholder ‘value’? 😩 Who wins? It certainly won’t be the staff who could see further cuts as a result as part of an efficiency play. 💰One thing is for sure is we haven’t seen the end of this yet as more bids may well be incoming. 👊 And for the world of agencies expect this to accelerate further consolidation and a flip to a demand side market for talent. 🤩 2025 is already looking very interesting…

There has a huge potential to shift how the broader media landscape operates if true & a deal is successfully done. Both Interpublic Group (IPG) & Omnicom Media Group have business units that could complement each other and become even stronger with the merger of capabilities. Will the big 4 hold-co's become the big 3? #media #advertising #marketing #ipg #omnicom

Big news in ad land. Will this merger work? It’s not surprising Omnicom and IPG want to merge given that the big bloated ad holding cos are way overdue for consolidation. They are losing control of ad spend which is the cornerstone of their outdated biz model. And now they’re trying to pivot fast. But, will a merger solve for this? My take? This merger buys them time. It’ll work if they streamline in a hard and painful way. That means a lot of job cuts and some new hires. And it means a totally new structure of how services are designed and delivered. That means reducing the hold co layer (useless expensive overhead) and blowing up all the agency silos. No more P&Ls that fight each other. Refocus to deliver what clients want. Services that are agile, specialized and seamless. And refocus to be the client advocate- something they’ve lost sight of. Having worked for IPG, Omnicom, WPP and Publicis during my career, I’ve seen that they are all alike and share the same challenge. I fear the newly merged holding co will cut everyone below them - not themselves. And they don’t understand how to design for the future given most of them don’t understand digital media or technology. What do you think? How can this merger be successful over the long term?

As always, perfectly stated my friend Hasan Ramusevic: this is about preservation. In addition, in IMHO: Clearly there will be mass consolidations, at minimum, in the back office and in off-shore services. 1. I can't imagine they will touch BBDO Worldwide or McCann Worldgroup, but WPP, there will be several huge integrations of agencies. This will be highly chaotic. 2. You will see a multitude of smaller agency brands disappear into larger entities. 3. This could be a bonus for WPP and Publicis, as top #talent may be looking to leave this behemoth. 4. Finally, is this all a set up for an eventual sale to a #PrivateEquity or global entertainment co? Stand by. #agency ##advertising #mediaagency Interpublic Group (IPG) Omnicom Philippe Krakowsky

Most marketers don’t partner with holding companies—they partner with agencies. And what clients value most in those relationships isn’t scale; it’s creativity, agility, and strategic alignment. To me, this potential merger, raises questions about whether bigger truly means better for the businesses they serve. A merger of this magnitude risks adding complexity to an industry where speed and simplicity are at a premium. Will a larger organization be more responsive to client needs, or will it struggle to deliver the focus and flexibility that today’s marketers demand? Consolidation may lead to operational efficiencies, but it could also blur the individuality of the agencies that clients rely on for fresh ideas and tailored solutions. From a client’s perspective, the merger must prove its value beyond scale. Can it simplify processes, unlock better insights, and elevate the work? Can it foster a more collaborative approach across disciplines, enabling agencies to act as true extensions of their clients’ teams? Or is this ultimately a preservation solution against pressures on holding company margins, shareholder expectations, and declining revenue growth?

What it means for Omnicom to acquire Interpublic Group (IPG). This is what people aren't talking about. First, advertising is actually going to improve. The two companies will pool top talent, we'll get more creative and groundbreaking advertising. But this huge company will be slower to innovate. It'll be more ripe for disruption. Then you take into account that so many employees will lose their job from the merger of these two companies. Lots of them will either go to rivals, or start agencies of their own to compete with this new behemoth. Also, this new firm will become the largest advertising company. This is my take, I used to work at Dentsu, the sixth biggest advertising company by market cap. I think we're going to get more creative ads. There will be more room to grow for competitors and new agencies. But also there will be a lot of new agencies created. That's what I believe we're going to see happen from this huge news just announced. Crazy. #business #advertising #marketing #mediabuying

Catch up quick: The proposed deal would create the world's largest ad agency with an aim of helping brands navigate the $1 trillion ad industry. Omnicom CEO John Wren will serve as CEO of the combined entity. IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky and its COO Daryl Simm will serve as co-presidents and COOs. The $13.3 billion stock-for-stock deal will be a 60-40 split in favor of Omnicom shareholders once complete. https://lnkd.in/eDmDvQvw

Yesterday, StopPress asked me to comment on Omnicom's recent $13 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG), and since researching the deal in more detail and beyond the press releases, it’s clear that this is the first major signal of the challenges large holding companies face in today's advertising landscape. With auction-based buying and the dominance of tech giants like Google and Meta, media buying is no longer about scale and "buying power". It's about smart people with smart tech. So, the holding companies are shifting focus back to cost-cutting and back-end efficiences-finance, programmatic hubs, search hubs, etc. This creates a golden opportunity for independent agencies like D3 NZ. As big firms get caught up in restructuring, clients will inevitably seek more agile partners to deliver personalised, innovative solutions without the bureaucracy. In a fast-changing world, being operationally nimble isn’t just an advantage for agencies like D3—it’s essential to winning new opportunities and building stronger, more meaningful client relationships. Who's next? I bet that Publicis Groupe will be after dentsu. After all, they just got Snoop Dogg to announce they were the world's biggest agency. Pas plus maintenant, mon ami.

how does this might effect your business?

Big moves are happening in the advertising world, and Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic is a pivotal moment. Here are five key takeaways that demand attention:  1. Advertising Landscape Remains Highly Fragmented With more than $20 billion in annual revenues and $65 billion in media billings, the combined holding company will displace WPP as the world’s largest agency, but will account for less than 7% of global ad spend, which is expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2025. Small and midsize agencies will continue to drive the majority of global media spend, with significant M&A transaction volume being driven by private equity-backed platforms. 2. Data is King A key thesis of the merger is the potential to cross-sell Acxiom, a first-party audience data platform that IPG acquired for $2.3 billion in 2018, with Flywheel, a commerce data platform that Omnicom acquired last year for $800 million. By combining these platforms, Omnicom and IPG hope to better compete with the targeting capabilities of Publicis, which has nearly tripled its market capitalization since acquiring Epsilon for approximately $4 billion in 2019. 3. 2025 Could Mark the Return of Mega Transactions With both entities listed in the United States, this merger will be among the first tests for M&A regulators under the second Trump term (the transaction is slated to close in the second half of 2025). Havas, the sixth largest agency globally, is also expected to evaluate “significant” M&A opportunities following its upcoming spinout from Vivendi and listing on the Amsterdam stock market. 4. Healthcare Remains Key Focus The pharmaceuticals and healthcare industry represented the top vertical for both Omnicom and IPG in 2023, and is expected to remain the top focus of the combined company. 5. Spin-Offs Likely to Come Beyond the $750 million of cost synergies estimated by Omnicom and IPG executives, the business is likely to monetize duplicative or non-core departments through divestitures to private equity firms or consultancies that are not direct competitors. IPG’s sale of Huge to Hero Digital, backed by AEA Investors, is likely a preview of what to expect. #Advertising #MergersAndAcquisitions #DataDrivenMarketing