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 […]
Brian Wieser is heading back to the agency world, joining WPP’s media buying unit GroupM as global president of business intelligence, the company said Wednesday. He will report to GroupM CEO Kelly Clark. It might seem like an odd time to jump to an agency, given the volatility of the industry and the epic amount […]
On Monday, Pivotal analyst Brian Wieser informed investors he will begin covering Criteo and The Trade Desk as his first ad tech stocks. Wieser covers large entities across the media and marketing sectors. His smallest previously was Interpublic Group, which has a $10 billion market cap. But when investors began asking him more about ad […]
AdExchanger Talks is a podcast focused on data-driven marketing. Subscribe here. Brian Wieser has been called the most quoted man in advertising, and that’s probably true. The Pivotal Research analyst is routinely quizzed by reporters, ad CEOs and investors for his thoughts on a wide range of companies in the space, including tech platforms, media companies and […]
Longtime WPP CEO Martin Sorrell’s abrupt departure Saturday shocked the industry. Sorrell, 73, is the advertising giant’s founding CEO and the only person to hold the title since 1986. But despite his age, WPP’s board never named a possible successor for the company. There are many options to choose from, said Brian Wieser, senior research […]
The past year was a tough one for agency holding companies. WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, IPG, Dentsu Aegis Network and Havas posted little to no growth in 2017. The agency business has been in flux for years, but 2017 offered the “perfect storm” of challenges that caused growth to stutter, said Greg Paull, principal analyst […]
Last week, IPG Mediabrands global CEO Henry Tajer announced he will leave the company and head back to Australia for personal reasons. But executive politics and challenges facing media agencies also factored into his departure. Tajer, a 10-year veteran of IPG Mediabrands, became global head in 2015 after a successful stint as CEO of Mediabrands […]
While the big story from the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) 2016 digital ad revenue report is that mobile accounted for over half of digital ad spend, digital audio spend was finally significant enough to merit its own category. The biannual report, released Wednesday, shows digital audio spend hit $1.1 billion in 2016, “passing the threshold […]
Has performance-based pay finally arrived for agencies? Traditionally, marketing services firms were paid on a set scope of billable hours worked by each employee on an account. But a growing number of advertisers are pushing for more tangible, ROI-based remuneration. The biggest recent example is McDonald’s. The quick-serve advertiser’s RFP process specified that agency compensation […]
Xaxis, despite scrutiny of its principal-based buying methods in the ANA’s June report, will grow at a forecasted rate of 25% year over year, WPP said on an investor call Wednesday. Based on the holding company’s H1 earnings report, neither WPP nor Xaxis have yet taken a major hit from the ANA’s findings. Advertising and […]
