Services: Green Square

However, the expected rash of similar ‘big four’ ad group takeovers never really happened. The reasons for this are complex and we’ve written about them before, so I won’t go into depth on those here. But suffice to say that there are few big entities left to acquire. Accenture’s big rival, Deloitte Digital, acquired no fewer than nine marketing services agencies last year, but the likes of Market Gravity and Acne can hardly be said to be McCann or O&M-size operations, whatever other qualities they may have. And there is undoubted resistance among creative types to being gobbled up by a management consultancy. I don’t think the consultancies’ interest in advertising is over, or that a big move or takeover won’t happen, I just don’t think the world is quite ready just yet, but there is an increasing number of brand owners showing a greater interest in the consultants’ approaches. Instead of going over that old ground, I’d like to put a different spin on things. What if the next generation of hot shops to be circled by the M&A world were not traditional funky London, Amsterdam or Portland startups, but mini management consultancies? It’s not as outlandish an idea as it might first seem. Just recently my Green Square colleagues and I have been working with an impressive disruptor operation called ORCA, and the way in which they work got me thinking about what the hotter than hot, eminently M&A’able startup of the near future might look like. ORCA describes itself not as a marketing services agency… but a “brand growth agency”. It doesn’t fixate on making old-fashioned ads, but instead begins with a set of fundamental and challenging questions around brand and business, operating to five key ORCA principles, all designed to deliver clients growth and help them manage change in a fast-changing world. It specialises in a number of areas, not all of which one would associate with the more old-school advertising agency: identifying growth areas and potential; business planning; brand strategy; “course correction” (helping a brand or client change its direction or strategy, if necessary); branded content, activation and “brand guardianship”; identifying future opportunities; tracking performance and planning/executing responses as necessary. The ORCA founders – Craig Wills (an agency strategy leader and startup entrepreneur) and Simon Pont (a former agency group chief strategy officer and best-selling author) – say they don’t focus on creative output as such, but on “brand growth and competitive advantage” – which sounds like the sort of thing a consultancy would say it does. Wills is singularly direct when he says, “The way brands can and should be built has changed. There are smarter ways of working, thinking that doesn’t follow the tramlines of past convention, and new ways of activating brand strategies with an urgency and impact that is commercially quantifiable and culturally profound.” ORCA takes a very “scientific” approach, using all the technological goodies – AI, predictive mapping, data science – at its disposal. So, in a four-step process, the agency gathers intelligence and analysis on the brand, its customers and the wide landscape; it then uses the intel to identify opportunities (or threats); creates a programme to deliver the opportunity; and monitors its progress, adapting if appropriate. Of course, many of the skills it brings to the table – such as copywriting or design – would be part of any traditional agency’s remit; but others (road-mapping, packaging, trendspotting, cultural change programmes) wouldn’t necessarily be. As Pont candidly challenges: “It’s 2018, meaning clients want an evolved set of agency skillsets – and they want partnership on a different set of terms. As opposed to paying punchy monthly retainers, agency resources are something a client should be able to dial-up and down, based on commercial targets, budget and funding rounds. A true partner business needs to be smart, strategic and simpatico.” Interestingly it can offer both a “consultancy model” (a fixed-term contract) or the more familiar “agency retainer”, with a licensing model for the tools. How this is put together depends on the client, its needs, the task and the budget. It’s a flexible approach that will win you friends in an era of huge disruption. The Orca approach seems to be working as it is experiencing positive traction with new clients operating in a broad range of categories from financial services to B2B, tech to education and global luxury consumer brands. Why is this? I think it’s for a number of reasons. It will use – or seek out – everything (not just creative or strategy but market data, business intelligence, legal requirements) to shape the vision of all the stakeholders – and then put it into action. The big management consultancies have been doing something like this for decades. They attempt to solve problems and manage change or transition. Where they don’t possess the internal skills to manage this, they’ll bring in external contractors or partners. Some forward-thinking agencies do this as well. In some quarters this approach is known as the ‘Hollywood model’. The ‘agency’ acts as a kind of movie producer or director, assembling the right team of talents to bring the project to fruition – it’s the way Hollywood has largely worked since the collapse of the old studio system in the 1960s, when most of the big stars started to sign up for individual projects rather than being tied into long-term projects with a particular studio. Movie makers realised it was much more profitable to draw on a vast pool of freelance talent than rely on a large in-house workshop. And so it is with smaller agencies, especially startups. Marcomms outfits like Orca are morphing into miniature consultancies. They will be more (relatively) profitable than a big shop with fat payrolls and infrastructures, and they can be much more nimble, which, in a fast-moving digital world, clients like. The clients also like the greater transparency offered by the “consultancy” model – they can see who’s being paid how much and for what. But Orca and shops like them also bring something to the table that the big consultancies usually don’t – an understanding of consumer or customer behaviour. There was an interesting piece in the FT recently about the long and largely ignoble history of rebranding and corporate makeovers (Post Office to Consignia, Dunkin’ Donuts to Dunkin’ et al). These expensive makeovers are usually well-intentioned and often done at the urging of consultants; what one ends up with is usually something meaningless, and or long-winded (it actually takes longer to say “WW” than the pre-makeover “Weight Watchers”) and unpopular with the most important of a brand’s stakeholders – its customers. A decent ad shop would look at the strength of a brand, understand the customer’s feelings about it, and act accordingly. Consultancies tend to look at other metrics and stakeholders, such as investors – a rebrand might lead to a short-term stock price hike, but overall, it has little effect; for consumers, the effect is often negative and usually results in much mockery from the media. Earlier this month, researcher Forrester shared its CMO predictions for 2019. One of the interesting things Forrester found was that 2019 “will be the year CMOs prioritise strategies that harness their customers’ energy and then use that collective vivacity to reinvigorate their brand”. The other thing Forrester predicts is that CMOs will be looking at “old school” marcomms – in other words, after years of focussing on tech and data, the way to cut through clutter is to concentrate on brands and their promises and essences again. Customer experience, not piles of data or split-second programmatic ad placement, will be what counts. This is something the very best “old school” agencies do very well, and it’s something consultancies couldn’t. To do it, they are having to learn, or buy in. Buying in (or up) is easier. There was another move in this direction last month (31 October) when PA Consulting acquired Essential Design for an undisclosed sum. PA Consulting describes itself as a “global innovation and transformation consultancy” (with offices in the UK, Europe and the Americas) specialising in strategy, innovation, product design and engineering and manufacturing process improvement. PA’s clients include Virgin Hyperloop One (transport) Skipping Rocks Lab (sustainability) and Monica Healthcare (pregnancy monitoring). As such, Essential is a perfect fit. Based in Boston, USA and formed in 2001, Essential has clients in the consumer (Shure, Altec Lansing, Dell), life science (Robot Futures) and healthcare (Philips) sectors. Its team of researchers, designers and engineers “inform and translate innovation strategy, to create breakthrough physical and digital products”. Essential’s work has won international recognition and received numerous industry awards for excellence in design research, design strategy and design development. As a visit to its website will confirm, Essential does much more than just “design” products. It offers research, strategic consulting, quality and project management, engineering and, of course, industrial and service design. Pretty much a consultancy-style “end-to-end” solution. But with a healthy focus on customer experience and brand promise. How, you might ask, are outfits like Orca and Essential marcomms agencies? The answer at its heart is simple. Advertising and marketing isn’t that complicated – it aims to do two things: solve problems (for the client and end user) and change behaviour. For the end user, this might, for example, manifest itself as providing information or entertainment (or some other ‘reward’) so that they buy Product A, or buy more of Product B; or getting them to recycle more, or stop smoking or eating too much fatty food. For the client, this might mean changing internal or cultural practices so that identified problems can be solved, or that end users can be better engaged. This is essentially what the consulting firms do (if they’re doing things right, of course), but there are crucial bits of the jigsaw missing, which is where the convergence we’ve been exploring comes in. This morphing of startups into consultancies is an interesting development – but it’s just one of many mutations happening right now. Read More

Not in their traditional guise, at least. Instead, the recently installed chief executive is betting WPP’s turnaround on a handful of new hybrid agencies that combine creative clout with digital and data dexterity. That was the logic behind his decision to merge 95-year-old advertising stalwart Y&R with VML this autumn, and it’s what he’s now seeking to repeat on a grander scale with the formation of Wunderman Thompson. “A change like this is probably helpful,” says Pivotal analyst Brian Wieser. “Traditional creative agency networks have struggled to provide comprehensively integrated offerings that balance creative ideation and production for brands with digital experiences, and I don’t think JWT has been any exception in this regard.” For JWT, consolidation has been on the cards ever since Read’s first week in the job when he put WPP’s creative agencies on notice over their sluggish sales. “They are the part of our business that is most under pressure as clients shift their budgets away from the traditional towards the new,” Read said in his debut shareholder address in September. “We need to have stronger creative agencies with stronger reputations that do better work and win share.” In practice, that means WPP’s most traditional agencies are no longer being sent in to bat for clients on their own. Teaming them up with a digital player, Read explained, had already proven to be the difference-maker in some of the group’s most important recent pitches. Y&R was named Office Depot’s agency of record account with the help of VML before the two had officially merged, he said. On the challenging Shell review, “JWT was the incumbent and we went back with a slightly different offer going through the Wunderman door”. Even on the Mars media pitch, led and won by Mediacom, “important resources from Wunderman and Possible were a fundamental part of the review,” Read later revealed. Since WPP is already seeing success from cross-selling agency services, there is a logic to formally merging talent and dispensing with the rigid structures that thwart collaboration within holding companies at present. What’s telling, however, is that the digital parties are getting top billing in the subsequently formed entities. Y&R’s amalgamation with VML prompted an exodus of its senior staff as the latter’s took most of the top roles in the VMLY&R hierarchy. And it is not Wunderman, the agency Read ran for almost four years before stepping up at WPP, that is losing its historic moniker. “JWT is a great name, but it’s an old one, one that comes with baggage as well as history,” says Tony Walford, managing partner at mergers and acquisitions advisory Green Square. “If WPP is to reinvent itself as a lean 21st century entity rather than as a 20th century holding group, then it may have to ditch some of the old brand names, no matter how painful that might be. “A more streamlined agency, which combines the data, digital and direct marketing skills of Wunderman with the creative reputation of JWT may appeal to global clients. It also sends out a message internally, that the culture is changing and that the old silo walls are being dismantled.” That message will have been heard loud and clear within WPP’s other august creative networks. “One wonders if WPP’s other great legacy agency, Ogilvy, might be next in line for similar treatment,” Walford posits. Industry insiders, however, tell The Drum a merger of Grey and AKQA is more likely to happen next and could even be announced as early as next month. WPP declined to comment on the speculation. What no one doubts is that WPP needs to change. Read has admitted that the company has grown “too complicated” and “been too slow to adapt” to the changing nature of the marketing business. The analyst Forrester, meanwhile, insisted WPP must “dissolve” its hundreds of agencies brands into just dozens in a bombshell recent report. “[WPP] will either consolidate itself or be forcibly taken over by someone who will,” wrote co-authors Ted Schadler and Jay Pattisall. Merging JWT and Wunderman is a step in the right direction, Pattisall tells The Drum. “There’s a lot more work for them to do but this starts to help CMOs find a more straightforward partner,” he says. “It’s a bold step for Mark and he seems to be not afraid to make these decisions.” But is it bold enough to rescue a WPP juggernaut that saw almost £3bn wiped off its market value after a dismal trading update last month? Pattisall’s view is that Read’s wave of consolidation should not stop at creative agencies. “It becomes radical when they start to integrate media into the proposition,” he says. “There’s a very definitive trend of media and creative coming back together. A radical move for WPP would be to embrace that trend and start to create ways for GroupM to be better integrated into the creative and digital agencies.” We’ll find out more about whether that’s part of Read’s blueprint for WPP in his much-vaunted strategy update on 11 December. Between now and then, he has some crucial decisions to make about what kind of WPP he’ll be presenting to a market baying for an upturn in its fortunes. “What Read and team need to be very careful of is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” says Green Square’s Walford. “Simplification is good, data-driven insights and creativity are good, lean is good, but so is history. In the rush to adapt to the new world, one must always keep one eye on history, and what made you great in the first place.” Read More

The relisting of the shares follows Sorrell’s taking the helm at Derriston Capital back in May (shares were suspended immediately), its reverse merger into S4 and subsequent £288m acquisition of Dutch content and digital production firm MediaMonks. Sorrell has had a pretty eclectic time of it over the last six months. Less than a year ago he was revered as a kind of sage of the marcomms industry, whose opinions were sought on every subject from Brexit through to the economy and Big Data; and, while he was mocked in some quarters as a glorified bean counter, he was certainly advertising’s best-known figure. But in April this year he was ousted from WPP, the advertising group he founded more than 30 years ago, amid shareholder grumblings about his remuneration and a number of allegations about his conduct, which he strenuously denies. But only a fool would have bet on him taking things lying down. With typical energy and verve, he bounced back – and rather sooner than even his most ardent admirers would have predicted. The Media Monks deal in July was the first step. The appearance on the London Stock Exchange of S4 is the second. So what’s he up to? Leafing through the prospectus issued last month, it’s clear that Sorrell has spent some time thinking about the state of the marcomms market, and the disruption and structural changes it faces. In an age when many clients (and indeed industry figures) are questioning the value – or even point – of the large holding groups that started to coalesce in the late 1980s, it’s interesting that Sir Martin isn’t setting up WPP Mk II. The aforementioned prospectus says the new group’s ambition is: “To create a new era, new media solution, embracing data, content and technology, in an always-on environment for multi-national, regional, and local clients and for millennial-driven digital brands.” And Sorrell himself commented in an official statement: “S4 Capital intends to provide global, multi-national, regional, local clients and influencer-driven millennial brands with new age/new era digital marketing services concentrated in three key areas initially – further development of a global digital content platform; first-party data fuelling both digital media planning and creative ideas too; and, finally, digital media buying. “Listening to clients of all kinds, it seems apparent they want these services delivered faster, better and cheaper, by more agile and responsive organisations, either co-located with them or alone. To this end, S4Capital will be organised primarily on a unitary basis, with key people continuing to be incentivised through significant, equity ownership in the enterprise. S4 Capital believes that this strategy and structure will deliver significant long-term value for share owners, particularly through organic growth, supported by strategically-focussed acquisitions. “S4 Capital, through MediaMonks, already currently works with some of the world’s most prestigious brands, such as adidas, Corona, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Netflix and Shell through eleven offices in ten countries in the United States, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. We are now looking to expand the digital content platform into new high potential growth territories, such as Germany, India and Japan and broaden and deepen the platform itself. We are also exploring new areas of operation in line with our strategic objectives, in data analytics and digital media planning and buying.” So, reading between the blurb lines, what does that all mean? Well, he’s certainly not starting another WPP – the idea of one P&L at S4 flies in the face of the internal competition between agencies that was fostered at WPP – but it appears that he does intend to park at least some of his tanks on his old firm’s lawn. That said, he won’t want to do too much damage, as he and his family trust still owns 1.8% of WPP shares worth around £260m. Recent statements from the marcomms maven indicate that he understands that the old centralised, top-down model that has predominated at big agencies for nigh-on three decades is not best suited to the digital era, in which responsiveness, speed and adaptability are valued qualities. Earlier this year, he attended, of all things, the famous Burning Man Festival, and talked enthusiastically about “the importance of creative destruction and renewal.” (It should also be noted at this point that S4 featured a picture of the famous Burning Man on the front cover of its prospectus – if that isn’t a message, I don’t know what is). He also understands the areas of the industry that are profitable and in growth – content, data/analytics, media planning. These are all areas that WPP either has a foothold in, or is seeking to grow in. Think of the likes of Kantar, GroupM and the big PR shops like Burson Cohn & Wolfe, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Finsbury and Ogilvy (remember, PR is less about pushing out messages these days than seeking to create influence, particularly with content). And, lest we forget, WPP was itself interested in acquiring MediaMonks – it was just the kind of agency whose culture and practices that the big holding groups could do with an injection of. Everything sounds a bit vague at the moment, but one thing we can be sure of: S4 won’t be making “traditional” broadcast, print and outdoor ads. Sorrell has made it clear that he would be concentrating on digital, and specifically on the three strands we’ve already mentioned: content, data and analytics and media. But there’s something else. In the past few years the big management consultancies are starting to muscle in on the marcomms space. The likes of Accenture, Deloitte, EY and KPMG can’t make ads (but they can buy in that talent, if necessary, as Accenture did when it bought the last UK indie of scale, Karmarama in 2016), but what they do have is the ear of the so-called C-suite (senior execs such as CEOs, COOs, FDs and CMOs) at big brands, and are seeking to advise them over strategic brand direction. That’s a high-value, high-profit activity that planners and analysts at big ad firms have had pretty much to themselves until recently. Sorrell has called this practice of helping clients deal with digital disruption in a meaningful way “digital entry” and I think it’s clear that it’s a space he intends to move into and prevent the consultancies dominating. A man of Sorrell’s stature at the head of a “nimble startup” (which is what S4, with its modest cost base and slimmed-down bureaucracy is positioned as) would certainly be able to call on C-suiters of the bluest of blue chips. Once he’s got the CMOs’ ears, he’s then got an interesting story to tell them: a more slender type of agency which draws on the best talent (be they suits, creative, planners, analysts etc) best suited for a particular job. The money goes on the stuff you want, not the salaries of senior executives. Isn’t that better value than a big old agency with several layers of management? It’s known in some circles as the “Hollywood Model”. Since the demise of the old studio system in the 1960s, movie producers have always drawn on a pool of available people – directors, cinematographers, writers, costume designers, lighting and make up people, composers, etc – that they feel can best bring a project to the screen, on time and on budget. Why not do the same with your advertising needs? And finally, there’s a familiar ring to this story. Back in 1985 Sorrell, the former FD at Saatchi & Saatchi, bought a small UK business which made wire baskets for supermarkets. He used it as an acquisition vehicle to create the world’s largest advertising and marketing group. Although he acquired many big “legacy” agencies such as Y&R, JWT and O&M, most of WPP’s profits and growth came from what were then new disciplines – media planning and buying, PR, research, direct marketing and CRM. It seems that, just as he did in the ‘80s, he’s after usurping the established titans (Omnicom, IPG, Dentsu and Publicis as well as WPP) and taking on the consulting giants. Whether his new, nimble model will take off; and whether, assuming it grows to the extent Sorrell wants it to do, it resists the tendency towards bloating and bureaucracy that ultimately seems to affect most big companies, remains to be seen. But it’s going to be one hell of a journey and certainly not boring! Read More

Commenting on the news, Green Square’s partner Barry Dudley, said: “Sir Martin is a unique character who ran WPP in the way that suited him, the simplest description may be ‘autocrat’. But even autocrats need impressive people around them and for Mark and Andrew to have been at Sir Martin’s side for so long is proof alone of their pedigree. Can Mark step into the CEO role? Without doubt and given the complexity of the group, its networks, geographies and all the vagaries that go with a people business, having someone that already knows this inside out seems obvious. Having said that, I suspect that one of the big things that Robert Quarta is grappling with is the FAMGA (Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon) factor – is there a need for someone from that world to perhaps bring new thinking and perspectives…time will tell!Today, WPP confirmed the appointment after four months of searching, also adding him to the board of WPP as executive director.” Roberto Quarta, Chairman of WPP, said: “The Board carried out a rigorous selection process, assessing internal and external candidates. That process, alongside Mark’s wise and effective stewardship of the business in the last few months, left us with no doubt that he is the right leader for this company, and we are delighted to announce the Board’s unanimous decision to appoint him as chief executive officer of WPP.” “Recognised for his leadership throughout the industry, he has an intimate understanding of the business, he enjoys very strong internal support, and he has earned the respect and endorsement of our clients with his constant focus on their needs. He has played a central role in many of WPP’s most successful investments and initiatives, and he has deep experience at board and operational level. Most recently, Mark led the transformation of Wunderman into one of the world’s top digital agencies, and he understands the importance of culture in creating successful organisations. In short, he is in every way a 21st-century CEO,” he added. Quarta has has resumed his role as non-executive chairman as Read is appointed. Read, said: “Our industry is going through a period of structural change, not structural decline, and if we embrace that change we can look ahead to an exciting and successful future. Our mission now is to release the full potential that exists within the company for the benefit of our clients, to accelerate our transformation and simplify our offering, and to position WPP for stronger growth. “To achieve that we need to foster a culture that attracts the best and brightest: inclusive, respectful, collaborative, diverse. What makes our company special is its people, and I am very proud to have been given the chance to build a new WPP with them,” added Read. Details of his contract have also been revealed, including a tough non-compete clause. His annual salary will be £975,000 with a potential bonus of £250,000, up to 40% can be deferred into shares over a two year period and a benefits package of £35,000 within the contract, a substantially less lucrative deal than that of Sorrell in his final years. The next steps for Scott have also been revealed with him set to continue on the post of chief operating officer of WPP on a permanent basis and as a key member of the senior management team. Read more

The New York-based holding group announced its second quarter results on Tuesday (17 July). Revenue growth was 2% overall with North America (by far Omnicom’s biggest market with 57% of its business), dropping 1%; and Europe (27% of the total) up nearly 12%. Net income (profit) for the quarter actually rose to $364.2m from $328.6m. Despite this, Wall Street took fright and the share price tanked by almost 10%. While Omnicom is clearly not on the verge of going under, this shows just how edgy investors are right now. And anyone who holds stock in Publicis would be feeling extremely jittery also after seeing the Paris-based group’s Q2 numbers when they were unveiled yesterday. Organic revenue, the measure that strips out the effects of deals and currency swings, slipped 2.1% in the period for Publicis. A volatile US healthcare business (it’s rumoured that Publicis wants to get out of this particular sector) and the new GDPR privacy rules in Europe contributed to the sluggish results. Worse still, the markets had been expecting growth; and although Publicis’s operating margin rate rose to 14.3% from 13.7% a year ago, this wasn’t enough to soothe nerves rattled by the long-term structural issues the ad industry, and the big groups especially, face. The downturn must have created a headache for chief executive Arthur Sadoun, who took the helm from Maurice Levy just over a year ago, and who won plaudits for his restructuring efforts. But that seems a long time ago now, and stockholders took fright, with the shares falling 10% (WPP’s shares also fell yesterday, by 3.8% – another indication of the uncertainty surrounding the industry). Clearly the investor community is increasingly nervous about the prospects of the ‘big five’ holding groups (Omnicom, Publicis, WPP, IPG, Dentsu Aegis) and indeed the viability of the holding group model itself. Everyone knows and (to a degree, at least) understands that there are seismic shifts going on in the marcomms industry: clients clamping down on costs; scandals around programmatic ad placement; the rise of Facebook, Google and Amazon, and other big digital players, who can be accessed without the need for an ad agency; the growing threat from consultancies like Accenture and Deloitte… We’ve written about these many times over the past few years. What’s interesting now is not what’s happening to the marketing services industry, but what the established players are doing about it. Rivals like Sorrell and Levy/Sadoun may have grabbed the headlines over the years, but Omnicom chief John Wren is a canny operator. And he’s been quietly tidying up his sprawling empire, selling businesses deemed non-essential (such as Sellbytel, a business providing outsourced sales, service and support) and also, rather belatedly, entering the data wars with a new entity called Omni. Omni, which was rolled out last week, is Omnicom’s answer to big rival Interpublic’s recent $2bn purchase of a majority slice of data specialist Acxiom; and Dentsu Aegis’ buyout of Dutch firm Oxyma Group. It will use data to profile customers and predict what kind of information they want to see from a creative and messaging standpoint, and connect that to where they are in the media landscape. To achieve this, Omni will be using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. Interestingly, it seems that Omni will not be generating or gathering its own data, but ‘renting’ it from others like Neustar, LiveRamp, Salesforce, Experian and other data vendors. This is a fairly smart move because, as Wren said last week, it ‘de-risks’ the business. It also allows the global group to act in a way that respects and complies with regional privacy and regulatory rules. The aim is not so much the gathering of big data, but changing the way ads get made and media is placed, so it impacts on all areas of Omnicom’s services – creative, strategy and media. Up until now, AI and data’s uses have mostly been limited to media buying with souped-up programmatic algorithms that are able to set pricing and determine the best time to run a campaign. Omni’s an interesting idea. In China, for example, certain colours are regarded as lucky. Ads featuring red, yellow and green are more likely to resonate with consumers. Words and messages can be crafted too – so, for instance, calls to action can be created to appeal to people looking to buy a hybrid car or swapping their telecoms provider. This can either act as a trigger to the creative teams, or more impactful messages can be more accurately selected from a pre-made portfolio of messages. In an age where short-form video content is becoming increasingly important, especially on mobile devices, this allows Omnicom’s agencies to push messages to those consumers for whom it would have the most impact, in a timely fashion. It ticks the right boxes – speed, relevance and highly targeted (thus eliminating waste, which provides clients with the transparency they’ve been asking for). For brands that spend hefty amounts of cash on TV ads, Omni could potentially open up troves of insights about the impact of TV ads on digital media. TV-to-digital tracking is limited to inventory purchased via advanced TV like over-the-top platforms and addressable TV tactics that serve targeted ads from set-top boxes, but digital TV ads are likely to become much more mainstream over the next few years as streaming and catch-up services start to replace linear and ‘over the air’ broadcasts. So Wren and his team seem to have done a good job here. The challenge is to make this intriguing service work (integrating scale and personalisation), and to trim down what is perhaps a now untenable agency model. Like its rivals, Omnicom has to focus, divest itself of non-core businesses, become leaner, nimbler and faster, and to demonstrate to clients that they are offering value – and better value than can be offered by Facebook, Google, the consulting firms and the hungry start-ups unburdened by high centralised infrastructure and support costs. There’s also the danger of putting too many of one’s eggs in the data basket. The gathering and use of data is now a hot topic for both consumers and regulators, and laws everywhere are likely to be tightened up. The EU’s GDPR regulations, launched just two months ago, are known to have caused many DM and CRM operators all kinds of problems already; and there is an acute danger of a consumer backlash, with those served ads becoming increasing resistant to, and resentful of, messages served them without permission or consent – even if they are relevant or timely. Fascinating times ahead. Read More