Happy Friday from Madison Avenue,
It's Patrick sitting in for Doug.
The one constant in life is change, and our agency world saw a good bit of that this week.
First, we must address the second-largest acquisition in the history of advertising as Publicis Groupe shelled out a cool $4.4 billion for data intelligence company Epsilon.
The deal wasn't particularly surprising, since it had been reported elsewhere and CEO Arthur Sadoun later told us that his company has been eyeing Epsilon for years. In the subsequent Q&A, Sadoun argued that, despite all this talk of first- and third-party data, the acquisition was really all about turbo-charging his network's creative product (because Publicis is not a numbers business).
So why did they have to drop the news on a Sunday morning? For a big clue, check the following day's disappointing Q1 results, which saw an organic decline of 4.6% in North America.
On the other side of the Atlantic, Omnicom chairman and CEO John Wren was less than impressed with the news, telling everyone on his own group's earnings call that the holding company doesn't need to buy any data providers. He also brushed off Accenture's recent acquisition of "really good agency" Droga5, saying, "I already have a lot of good agencies."
Another big change to hit the agency world this week concerned that wonkiest of topics, contracts. Actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Joint Policy Committee consisting of the 4A's and the ANA finally came to an agreement regarding the terms of doing business, releasing documents that detailed the changes in commercial contracts to allow for the everyday realities of digital, social and project-based work. The two parties claim that younger, non-signatory agencies will no longer have an advantage over older shops that never signed on, but SAG-AFTRA shows no signs of ending its crusade against BBH, which it accuses of "illegally" withdrawing from the contract late last year.
Next, does the American public trust the ad industry to help Congress create new laws regulating itself? Based on conversations we had with analysts, observers trade groups, the answer might just be no.
So what's up on the client side? Glad you asked, because this week saw a fair share of reviews.
First, healthcare startup Oscar is looking for a new agency partner to handle project work ahead of this fall's insurance enrollment period. The company co-founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of you-know-who, just hired a new CMO in Ivan Wicksteed, formerly of Old Navy.
Intuit also issued an RFP for its global creative brand business. The software maker named Amazon's Lara Balasz as its new CMO late last year and hired MediaLink to run the search. We'd wager they're hoping it will go better than the "unorganized" digital review for Peloton, which sources say has entered its second round as the brand prepares to go public later this year.
On the hiring front, Huge promoted Gela Fridman to chief technology officer while UM hired former Omnicom executive and Blue Box Toys CMO Trish Chuipek as its first chief client officer.
We also talked to creative director and Where Are The Boss Ladies founder Mara Lecoq, who now serves as director of brand and community for everyone's favorite gossip app Fishbowl, about making the ad industry better for women. And to that point, Verizon CMO Diego Scotti revealed that the number of women in leadership positions on his agency roster has actually declined by 7% since 2016.
We can all do better.
Other interesting nuggets from this week include Pereira O'Dell launching creator network Briefly, WPP's Zubi spinning away from Ford network GTB, Coldwell Banker NRT launching an in-house shop, and the NRA filing a high-profile lawsuit against Ackerman McQueen, its agency of 38 years.
Please subscribe to our sister site AgencySpy, which had a few scoops this week as well. Leo Burnett went through a round of "senior-level" layoffs, Phenomenon adjusted to the loss of Intuit, Anomaly won Johnnie Walker global, and McDonald's moved more work from We Are Unlimited to TBWA.
Finally, please feed me tips at patrick dot coffee at adweek dot com. And if you're feeling shy, you can always DM me on Twitter or use the anonymous black hole at AgencySpy.com.
Have a great Easter weekend.
Best,
Patrick Coffee
Editor at Large