You can go to Ad Age, Jim Edwards’ coverage on Business Insider or DigiDay to get all sorts of news and reactions to today’s announcement regarding the merger of Publicis and Omnicom. Besides really throwing everyone’s summer weekend into chaos, opinions are flying regarding the merits of the deal.
Here’s my biggest question:
Is there any current client of these holding companies that thinks their marketing and advertising will be improved by this merger?
We’ve already heard that in a sense, Pepsi (through TBWA/Chiat Day) and Coke (through Leo Burnett, among others) now have the same ad agency. And I’m sure there are dozens of other conflicts at play.
But what do clients gain here? A more international footprint? Economies of scale in media buying? Access to better talent? Lower overall costs? Better client service? Better creative?
Some people on Wall Street will cheer this merger. And surely the lawyers, accountants and management who will make money off this will cheer the merger.
But please, point me towards a current client that will cheer on this deal.
Because this moment, and the next year or so in which this deal gets finalized, could the tipping point at which marketers will freely admit, “bigger is better.” Or they could say, “enough is enough” and finally turn against the dominance of holding companies. Which will it be?
