Anagram, a new independent advertising agency, made its official launch this week in New York. The latest addition to the ISPD group of companies, Anagram is “a purpose-built media agency […]
GroupM’s MediaCom unit has named Nadine Thomson its first global chief technology officer. Thomson, who reports to MediaCom Global Chief Digital Officer Deirdre McGlashan, will be based in London.
Publicis Groupe is buying Rauxa, a 20-year-old full-service marketing agency with offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Dallas. Founded in 1999, the 300+ person agency reported net revenue of around $70 million in 2018 with a client roster including Verizon, Samsung, Alaska Airlines, Vans and Celgene.
This deal follows the moves of holding company rivals to up their precision marketing capabilities. Interpublic spent $2 billion to scoop up Acxiom Marketing Systems last year, while Dentsu Aegis purchased Merkle in 2016 for a reported $1.5 billion.
Today, Nielsen announced that Wingard, a marketing and advertising agency based in Jacksonville, Fla., is the first agency in the Southeast to subscribe to Nielsen’s Commspoint Local — a platform that […]
Exclusives
Accenture, the global business consultancy, will buy Droga5, one of Madison Avenue’s most buzzed-about “hot shops” in a move likely to stoke new concerns about the inroads large business advisories might make upon an industry that has thrived for decades under the rule of entrepreneurs.
Accenture Interactive is acquiring Adaptly to bolster the agency’s programmatic services offerings. Financial terms were not disclosed. Founded in 2010, the 150-person Adaptly partners with digital platforms, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, Instagram and Snapchat, to run campaigns for clients such as Chico’s, Mazda, Prudential and Sprint.
Mars currently has a three-agency structure operating globally across its three business segments and indicated that it intends to consolidate the assignment with one agency.
Disappointing results from ad holding companies like WPP have shed a light on the pressure agencies are facing to evolve their existing structures. Many ad industry observers see a need for agencies to rethink their structures. “I think the future model is going to be a reconstituted agency a la the days of ‘Mad Men.’ The difference is Don Draper will report to Harry Crane, not the other way around,” said Lou Paskalis, a media executive at Bank of America.
With branded content hard to do profitably, publishers including Bloomberg Media are trying to offer strategic services designed to get clients on retainer or act as an agency of record for brands.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether advertising agencies manipulated the bidding process for contracts to produce commercials in order to favor their own in-house units.
Agencies’ Big Digital Dilemma: Talent Scarcity
The digital divide isn’t just evident in the media choices people are making these days. It’s also notable in agencies. A new report from Smith & Beta, a talent firm focused on agencies, finds that not only do most agencies feel they’re ill-prepared to give their clients the digital solutions they need, but employees also worry they’re not getting the right training to improve in these areas. Smith & Beta’s Allison Kent-Smith talks about how agencies are preparing (or not) for the digital age.
These are perilous times for the big holding-company ad agencies, faced as they are with rising anger and dissatisfaction on the part of clients over a variety of issues. Major changes are coming.
This year, ad dollars will flow to TV and digital in greater amounts than ever before. Media Life predicts spending on Hispanic media will grow by 14% to 17% this year, based on conversations with and input from media buyers and media analysts.
Ignore the trash talk in the wake of the closing of the Commonground/MGS agency. Hispanic media is going through huge changes as it joins the ranks of mainstream media. As it does so, the role of the Hispanic agency is changing as well — and for the good.
How Ad Agencies Must And Will Evolve
Horizon Media founder Bill Koenigsberg argues the old model is broken. The new model he envisions will be more transparent and quicker to innovate in the face of change.
Coming Tough Times For Ad Agencies
This year’s slow-moving broadcast upfront resulted in lower CPM gains for most networks and lower total volume of sales, too, as the Big Five held back inventory in hopes of selling it for higher prices later this year in the scatter market. But the troubled upfront also brought to light some greater issues for agencies. Farmer & Co. CEO Michael Farmer predicts there could be a shakeout coming, which will result in the rise of smaller agencies with more experienced people at the helm.
Johannes Leonardo has picked up the account for Sony’s new PlayStation Vue streaming TV service after a review that began last fall, according to people familiar with the situation. The cloud-based TV service, delivered through Sony’s PS4 and PS3 consoles, has been available in initial markets such as New York, Chicago and Philadelphia since March, and limited promotion has appeared in those areas. A national campaign is expected to begin later this year as Sony gains rights to TV stations in other markets and the service expands.
Publicis.Sapient, the new digital services management arm formed by Publicis Groupe after its recent acquisition of Sapient, has acquired Expicient for an undisclosed sum. The acquired shop is a specialist in inventory and order management systems (OMS) and the holding company said the purchase would strengthen its ability to offer global omnichannel services to clients.
Accenture has entered into an agreement to acquire Reactive, an independent Australian ad agency. The purchase is yet another move toward marketing by a company with IT roots. Accenture, IBM, Dell and Deloitte are now all trying to make money by helping companies use digital tools to get smarter about the way they interact with customers, and all expect marketing to influence how the money is spent.
Unblocking The Ad Payment ‘Traffic Jam’
Some of the measures being undertaken to speed up advertising payments by agencies to stations, such as automated processes and shared services structures, can actually be slowing them down. Here are suggestions on solving the problem.
Rethinking Media’s Compensation Model
Agencies need to come up with ways to retain talented Millennials, halting the high turnover. One way: Think beyond money to personal experiences, such as trips and classes.
Broadcast TV Still Go-To Community Medium
The CEO of Havas Media North America ($2.7 billion in 2009 billings) says media buyers are targeting communities of all sorts and TV stations are still one of the best ways of reaching the geographic kind. In buying all media, she says, she would like to see more consistent audience measurement, and find ways of eliminating some of the transactional costs.
