Nicole Denman Greene’s Post

🚨 Big, but Sunday media deal brewing The Wall Street Journal reports that Omnicom and Interpublic may merge this week, in what could be a $13-14B deal. Beyond reshaping the competitive landscape, I see this as a strategic play to respond to AI’s growing impact on media, marketing, and commerce. Suzanne Vranica + Lauren Thomas broke the news. Why This Potential Merger Matters: 1️⃣ Scale Meets AI Investment: A combined Omnicom-Interpublic would become the largest ad conglomerate globally, with net revenue exceeding $20B. In a world where AI demands massive investment and urgency, this scale could redefine how agencies compete with or partner alongside Microsoft, Google, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI and others. 2️⃣ Tech-Driven Consolidation: The timing is no coincidence. Forrester forecasts AI automation could replace 33,000 agency jobs by 2030. This merger positions the new entity to weather these disruptions, pooling resources to enhance AI capabilities and innovate faster. 3️⃣ Talent Transformation: Traditional roles will likely evolve or decline, but expect a surge in demand for AI talent—data scientists, machine learning engineers, and AI strategists will be critical to driving agency growth and delivering results. The Big Questions: 🔵 Will this consolidation accelerate or slow AI innovation in advertising? 🔵 How will players like Publicis, WPP, Havas, and Dentsu respond?

I firmly believe that we don't need more agencies; we need more technology. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱: 👉 Omnicom to Acquire Interpublic Group (IPG)....creating a behemoth agency. On paper, it makes sense—acquire a competitor, expand your footprint, and dominate more market share. But, looking into the future, I can't help but wonder why the agency growth model is so antiquated. Agencies should pivot toward tech innovation - using AI tools and productizing their offerings rather than relying on acquisitions and hourly rates. Think, Service-as-a-Software. That's where I'm placing my bets! They should be productizing their offering, including AI tools and tech-enabled solutions, which are the real growth drivers for the future. Agencies that embrace this shift will not only meet evolving client needs but redefine what it means to be a partner in this new era of work. Do you agree? Where do you see the future of agencies heading? #Omnicom #IPG #futureofwork #agencyacquisition #marketingconsultant #futureofwork #techinnovation #serviceasasoftware

Shakespeare asked, “What’s in a name?” 🌹 For us, it’s our 7,600-strong team of the world’s best digital talent—because starting today, we’re sporting a new name: Monks. 🎉 The new Monks brand emphasizes the cross-vertical and end-to-end capabilities offered by an integrated portfolio of services, which are designed to maximize client revenue growth, innovation and reach. But our name also represents the people behind the work we do day in and day out, signaling the importance of having ambitious innovators in your corner—particularly in the age of AI. 🧑🏽💼 In addition to the new name, we’re streamlining our operating model and consolidating our capabilities into two fully synchronized offerings: Marketing services and Technology services. This restructure will give clients even more streamlined access to the best digital talent, who will help them thrive and innovate in an era of rapid disruption. 📈 We can’t wait to redefine the industry together. Learn more over at The Drum 👇🏿

One of the most common questions I get asked from prospective clients is, "What does Media.Monks do?". Well, we do a lot but hopefully our name simplification will end some confusion with some legacy perceptions of the magic we make on the daily at Monks. A new simplified structure that's far from simple when it comes to ideas big and small. We build modern social brands through culture connected creativity underpinned and made far more effective by technology.

As reported by Suzanne Vranica of The Wall Street Journal ( https://lnkd.in/gZSTV6BZ), the proposed merger between Omnicom and Interpublic Group (IPG) could create a $26 billion advertising giant. I couldn’t resist interrogating the major LLM "Answer Engines" for their perspectives. Here’s how they broke it down: WHAT’S COMMON All engines flagged the merger as a seismic move in advertising, with shared concerns about reduced competition, client conflicts, regulatory scrutiny, and potential stifling of innovation. The scale and synergy are undeniable, but so are the risks. WHERE THEY DIVERGED OpenAI's #ChatGPT 4 emphasized risks to innovation in a fragmented media landscape, while Google Gemini zeroed in on competition and creativity challenges with a sharp regulatory focus. Perplexity flagged potential harm to independent agencies, and Meta /AI described the merger as a "behemoth" with antitrust and talent integration hurdles. X's Grok leaned into its conversational style, calling it a potential "galactic empire" but questioning bureaucracy's toll on creativity. (Typical X reaction). Anthropic's Claude balanced concerns about client conflicts with optimism around digital/data synergies (and as usual noted its view is "hypothetical" given that it's training data is time-stamped.) The distinct styles and focus areas of each engine showcase how these "Answer Engines" interpret high-stakes corporate moves. AI, like advertising, thrives on perspective. Greg Kahn Shiv Singh Max Kalehoff Brian Wieser, CFA Rishad Tobaccowala Norm Johnston Paul Baier BrandRank.AI #Marketing #Advertising #eCommerce #AI Ad Age ADWEEK Drew Ianni Lisa Bradner Debra Aho Williamson

Insight Partners is so much more than an investor. Their Center of Excellence team and "ScaleUp Academy" provides world-class research, advice and education, and differentiates them from other VC/PE firms in helping scale and transform companies. If you’re one of their ~800 portfolio companies, you know the difference firsthand. I just enjoyed seeing their most recent research on 2025 Marketing Budgeting and Planning with Dustin Zaloom and Pax Kaplan-Sherman. Some interesting trends from their research: → GTM spend efficiency is recovering this year for early-stage companies. For later-stage companies, efficiency hasn't improved significantly but has leveled off → Expansion bookings as a percentage of total bookings has increased significantly year-over-year, with marketing playing an increasingly important role in driving the expansion pipeline → Marketing program spend is flat year-over-year; however, demand generation spend has increased slightly, while content marketing spend has decreased due to AI’s influence → Marketing teams with complex sales processes and a high ASP are spending more on people because they require specialized roles → High-performing marketing teams are increasing tech spend to drive efficiency → Search, events, and social contribute to the majority of the marketing pipeline What marketing teams should do in 2025: 1️⃣ Go beyond experimenting with AI and start integrating AI into workflows 2️⃣ Continue investing in brand to cut through the noise 3️⃣ Develop reporting that captures complexity of the modern buyer’s journey, especially for large ACV deals Thanks Insight team for living up to the name 🙃 🙏 #marketing #vc #PrivateEquity

We’re excited to announce the launch of Inksights: Media Intelligence Report, a data-driven analysis of specific media trends that we will be sharing throughout the year. 📈 In the inaugural edition of #Inksights, EVP Keith Giannini and Account Director Sally Brown dive into IPO trends and media coverage, specifically looking at the role of #AI in these articles. (Spoiler alert: while IPO optimism is back, AI doesn’t play a leading role in IPO articles – at least, not yet!). Click the link below to read the full blog ⬇️ https://bit.ly/3UpIdVz

I’ve been very happy with the progress of the Six Five Media over the past 5 years. We can do better so It’s time to raise the bar and Daniel Newman and I are pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Rubin as the President of Six Five Media. The past 5 years have been incredible, making triple digit YoY growth and expansion of our product portfolio and annual hallmark event, The Six Five Summit, into one of the most exciting technology events where we have seen over 100 CEOs and hundreds more top executives from the world’s most prolific tech companies join us on the platform. The genesis of The Six Five was to bring analyst expertise in an engaging platform that goes deeper than the news and headlines and provides the world with a more comprehensive viewpoint. With such explosive growth, the time has come for us to appoint the type of leadership that can continue to grow Six Five Media and this is precisely why we are so excited to have Mike onboard. His joining our leadership marks the beginning of our next wave of investment in our analyst-led media products and expanding our capabilities to serve our clients needs to educate markets with world class content from our leading technology analysts. Mike brings over 30 years of tech industry experience building legendary product, service, and digital media businesses into #1 market positions for the likes of Epson America Inc., Compaq (acquired by HP, AltaVista (acquired by Yahoo, Shopping.com (acquired by eBay and Broadcom’s semiconductor business. Mike founder of several early-stage start-ups with $3B in exits and the inventor of fundamental technology and patents in wireless, digital media and sovereign identity for personal AI. I’ve known Mike for nearly 30 years, worked for him for 6 years, and he has been a consultant for me on three very high profile projects that all of you would know about if I could talk about them. In addition, Mike brings deep entrepreneurial experience to Six Five Media as a founder of several successful start-ups and the inventor of fundamental technology and patents in wireless, digital media and sovereign identity for personal AI. With Mike adds more strategic with improved execution capabilities to Six Five in to maximize the success of our sponsor initiatives. We can’t wait to see the next phase of growth with another prominent and experienced leader driving the business forward.

📊 MINT EYES ON | INSIGHTS: Navigating the Martech Maze Did you know there are over 14,000 #martech tools available for media management? 🤯 This overwhelming number presents a real challenge for marketing leaders and can strain agency relationships in daily operations. But there's a solution: 🔑 Break down silos connecting all data in a unified software ecosystem 🎯 Achieve a holistic view of your media spending, bringing all internal and external teams on the same page Want to dive deeper into the new era of #advertising governance? Let's connect → https://www.mint.ai/ #EyesOn Engage Salvatore Internullo

Publicis Groupe Middle East and Columbus Digital have teamed up to tackle a growing transformational challenge: "Realizing the value of strategy through well-executed, thoughtfully budgeted implementation plan." Statically, large-scale transformational programs often face significant challenges or even failures. A major factor is the imbalance in how budgets, time, and resources are allocated between strategy formulation and execution. Too often, execution doesn’t get the investment needed to bring the vision to life. By partnering with Columbus Digital and leveraging early adoption of their cutting-edge digital platform—powered by AI to enhance performance, efficiency, and agility—we’re equipping our clients with the tools to reduce the risk of failure and achieve more consistent returns on their transformational investments. #Strategy #Execution #Transformation #AI #Innovation #Partnerships #DigitalTransformation #Success #OKRs #ObjectivesAndKeyResults