Agencies

Martin Sorrell has harsh words for his successor at WPP Group. During a wide-ranging interview on this week’s AdExchanger Talks podcast, Sorrell sharply questions decisions made by WPP’s current leadership in the year since he abdicated to start his own holding company, S4 Capital. He suggests WPP brass have executed poorly on a well-intentioned strategy […]

When nutritional supplement company Transparent Labs ran a video on social media as its first-ever marketing campaign, it didn’t expect to go viral. But the five-minute video raked in 21 million views and 18,000 shares across social media, translating to a 4:1 return on ad spend. Through the campaign, Transparent Labs was able to grow […]

Interpublic Group’s $2.3 billion purchase of Acxiom Marketing Services in 2018 shook the industry. And it reverberated into 2019 with Publicis Groupe’s follow-up acquisition of Epsilon. This week on the podcast, IPG Chief Data and Technology Officer Arun Kumar comes into the studio for a frank discussion of the deal and the larger trend of […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Jay Friedman, president and partner at Goodway Group. Accenture Interactive’s recent purchase of creative agency Droga5 presents a fundamental question of whether consulting and creative can be combined effectively. Can a creative […]

Facebook, Google and Amazon all possess near monopolies in their respective markets. Is there anything wrong with that? The presiding view has been that monopolies don’t matter as long as the consumer is better off, according to Rishad Tobaccowala, chief growth officer at Publicis Groupe. “All of us get these platforms for free,” he says […]

As the industry evolves, media agencies are no longer set up to work with their clients in a financially viable way. In reviews, client procurement departments still evaluate their agencies against historical cost benchmarks, such as commissions or number of full-time employees (FTE) charged by its previous agency. But that often precludes the agency from […]

With its $4.4 billion acquisition of Epsilon/Conversant, Publicis Groupe becomes a data controller – and that ups the regulatory ante under the General Data Protection Regulation and, likely, any other privacy legislation that comes down the pike. Controllers, in GDPR parlance, determine how and why personal data is processed. Controllers are also required to establish a […]

Dentsu Aegis Network’s media billings grew 28% in 2018, according to benchmarking firm RECMA, making it the fastest-growing media group among the holding companies. The company now has $13 billion under management across Carat, dentsu X, iProspect and other agencies. This week on AdExchanger Talks, Dentsu Aegis’ media chairman, Doug Ray, describes the agency’s growth […]

Despite ad tech consolidation, the Lumascape isn’t shrinking, and it’s tough even for agencies to help their clients find the right tech partners. So GroupM launched a startup accelerator program on Monday to streamline that process. GroupM will select four US-based startups to participate in the three-month mentorship program, called AdVentures, with clients including Mike’s […]

Publicis acquired Epsilon on Sunday primarily for the latter’s expertise in working with first-party client data. But Publicis got a lot more with Epsilon’s hefty $4.4 billion price tag. Epsilon is best known for its services related to data management, email marketing and loyalty platforms. But Epsilon also gives Publicis an affiliate marketing network (Commission […]

When Publicis acquired Epsilon for $4.4 billion on Sunday, it put a big emphasis on the value the company brings to the group around first-party data. But while Epsilon has deep experience working with its clients’ first-party data and managing their CRM databases and loyalty programs, it doesn’t actually own first-party data – depending on […]

Publicis Groupe’s $4.4 billion purchase of email marketing and data company Epsilon on Sunday comes down to three words: first-party data. “What is really important for our clients is to build their first-party data,” said Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun on an investor call Monday. “If not, they will be killed by direct to consumer […]

“On TV and Video” is a column exploring opportunities and challenges in advanced TV and video. Today’s column is written by Maggie Zhang, senior vice president of video research and insights at Dentsu Aegis Network. As the timeless tale of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” goes, the young girl tastes three different bowls of porridge […]

Agencies have a “can’t live with it, can’t live without it” relationship with Facebook. The world’s second-largest ad platform, which reaches roughly 2.4 billion people, is a must-buy for brands. But a stream of issues around brand safety, misinformation and election integrity have made Facebook a precarious place for a brand to expose itself. Facebook’s […]

Dentsu Aegis Network launched Sellwin, an Amazon-focused consultancy, on Wednesday. The business is made up of six consultants, with access to another 130 specialists across Dentsu’s US agencies for things like ecommerce search, creating product page content and Amazon voice skills, said Sellwin President Travis Johnson. The consultancy model is new for Dentsu, Johnson said, […]

Accenture Interactive, the agency division of the global management consulting firm, said Wednesday it will acquire independent creative agency Droga5. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Accenture Interactive claims Droga5 is its largest agency acquisition to date. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, Accenture Interactive said in a press release. Droga5, […]

Agencies can no longer plan digital and linear investments separately. Integrating planning strategies and investments at OMD will be a core focus for George Manas, who joined as president and chief media officer last week from Omnicom performance agency Resolution Media. “I’ve been bullish on making sure programmatic talent doesn’t live in just an activation […]

Agencies need access to unique data sources to bring strategic value to their clients. Publicis said Monday it is in talks to acquire Epsilon from parent Alliance Data Systems in an effort to beef up its own data assets. The agency network is bidding against Goldman Sachs and private equity firm Advent International for Epsilon, […]

Hearts & Science US CEO Erin Matts will speak at AdExchanger’s upcoming Programmatic IO San Francisco conference on April 29-30, 2019 in San Francisco. It’s harder for media agencies to have the buying clout in the digital world that they have in traditional channels. Hearts & Science is building that influence through thousands of private […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Network To Get Work A+E is taking a two-pronged approach with its new TV measurement products. A campaign reporting feature called P1 is meant to onboard smaller businesses and direct-to-consumer startups, which hunger for attribution data and want to test TV with relatively low […]

Big agencies’ inability to quickly change their legacy structures has eroded their value to clients. “We are too passive,” said Nick Brien, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network in North America, on stage at the 4A’s Decisions 2020 conference in Washington, DC on Monday. “We are slow to change. We’re too incremental. We have legacy structures […]

Late last year, Havas Media began formalizing rules for how it works with SSPs and exchanges. The rules required them to shed light on previously non-transparent practices, like publisher fees, supply quality, access to log-level reporting and auction dynamics. Havas wasn’t an outlier. Hearts & Science also runs a 50-point certification process with SSPs and […]

Automation is coming to the upfronts, slowly but surely. What’s been the holdup? Healthy skepticism and reticence to change, more than anything else, according to Jay Prasad, chief strategy and business officer at VideoAmp. The video ad startup has recently partnered with a slate of programmers and OTT distributors, including A&E Networks, AMC Networks, Tubi […]

Embattled holding company MDC Partners has a new owner. The Stagwell Group, a new-model agency holding company helmed by former Microsoft chief strategy officer and political advisor Mark Penn, said Friday it will invest $100 million to take a 30% minority stake in MDC Partners. Penn will become CEO and sit on MDC’s board. The […]

To centralize or not to centralize? That is the question holding companies have wrestled with since the advent of programmatic buying a decade ago. While Publicis Media and GroupM have broken up or reassembled their trading desks, others like IPG have kept that expertise at the center. Enter Omnicom, which said Friday it’s taking the […]

GroupM is still trying to be simpler for clients to navigate. To propel that effort, the WPP-owned media buying arm promoted Evan Hanlon to the newly created role of US chief strategy officer on Wednesday. Hanlon, who was previously president of data and technology unit mPlatform, will focus on making it easier for clients to […]

Last year, the GroupM digital agency Essence broke into traditional TV. Now, Essence is working with all of the major TV networks to sell their inventory in a more addressable way, said CEO Christian Juhl. “We’re trying to work with major publishers on changing the way they sell media,” he said. “But the things we’re […]

After two years of stock declines, WPP is finally inching toward progress. The holding company on Friday reported revenue was down 1.3% in 2018 to $2 billion and billings up 0.4% to $7.4 billion, at the upper end of guidance set in October. Shares jumped 8% upon the news. But work remains to be done […]

Kraft-Heinz’s $15 billion write-down on Kraft and Oscar Meyer last week shows that underinvesting in marketing and brand hurts long-term growth. “It indicates investment in innovation and branding is essential,” said Martin Sorrell, CEO of S4 Capital. “In addition to being frugal, you have to invest in product or service innovation and marketing. You’re throwing […]

“Data-Driven Thinking” is written by members of the media community and contains fresh ideas on the digital revolution in media. Today’s column is written by Jay Friedman, president and partner at Goodway Group. Want to start a social movement? There are plenty of resources online to help you; TED even offers a quick, four-step guide to […]