It’s been a couple of weeks since we last posted on the
ThinkInk blog, not because we’ve had nothing to say but because we’ve been
crazy busy. Summer is usually a time
when a lot of businesses wind down, but it’s been the opposite around here.
New people, new clients and lots of new ideas...stay
tuned for more on that but, in the meantime, we have a lot to say about last
weekend’s announcement of the Omnicom-Publicis merger.
You know corporate news is serious when two things
happen: the story breaks sometime between 5pm on Friday and 7am on Monday
(slowing down media response and giving in-house spin doctors time to go into
information-management mode) OR if said news is lampooned by comedians.
In the case of advertising agencies Omnicom Group, based
in Manhattan, and Publicis Groupe SA, based in Paris, both have occurred. Last
Sunday, in a lovely photo-op embrace, the agencies’ head chiefs announced the
intended merger, valued at $35 billion. Meanwhile, a July 29 headline in The
Onion read: “Merger
of Advertising Giants Brings Together Largest Collection Of People With No Discernible
Skills.”
Gibe aside, a merger of this magnitude is no laughing
matter. If approved, it will have a profound impact on the advertising industry
– and far beyond. Whether the fallout is “good” or “bad,” however, is up for
debate.
Camp A: Spooked
On one side is the “spooked” camp, with words like “monopoly,”
”behemoth,” and “stifled competition” on the tips of its members’ tongues.
Considering that the new company (will it be called Publiomnicomis?!) will have
spent a combined $3.31 billion in media placements during 2012 accounting for nearly
half of the world’s top 10 media agencies’ efforts, it’s more than a fair
concern and one that I appreciate.
Camp B: Rosy-Eyed
Then there’s the other camp, those who see opportunity –
an opportunity for smaller firms to capture new business as some disgruntled
clients flee, industry pricing/digital ad value and KPI standardization, as
well as increased resources to acquire, manipulate and act on big data. The
latter point will help adland better compete against Silicon Valley natives
like Google, Facebook, Salesforce and Adobe, among many others.
Camp C: Vanessa
My camp falls somewhere in the middle. If the proposed
mega-company survives the scrutiny of both US and French regulators, the bigger
question becomes “what type of precedent does Publicis Omnicom’s
soon-to-be-existence establish?” Just as the airline, automobile, entertainment
and pharmaceutical industries have endured mergers and acquisitions for
decades, what will the advertising landscape look like in five or ten years?
Will there be room for corporate and creative independence or will the
specialized firms of today, like ThinkInk, be relics of a bygone era?
I really don’t know. Some 46 countries must ultimately
give their blessing and the final merger may not be complete until early 2014.
So there is lots of time for positing and pontification.
But don’t let your head and screen be your own echo
chambers. Share your views with the ThinkInk community: do you think the
advertising world will embrace this new corporate marriage or will it leave
executives across the media landscape po’d and just plain scared?
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