by Tod Maffin
It is a landmark deal that signals a seismic shift in the advertising world.
Omnicom Group says it plans to acquire IPG (Interpublic Group of Companies) for a reported $13 billion. The deal is slated to close in Q2-2025 (as long as regulators and shareholders green-light it).
The combined entity will boast over 100,000 employees spanning practices like media, precision marketing, e-commerce, healthcare, public relations, and branding.
Omnicom’s CEO will head the merged organization.
The company says the move is expected to yield $750 million in annual cost savings, but analysts are cautious about the complexities of integrating two massive networks, both known for fostering independent agency cultures.
For IPG, the deal marks the end of an era.
Once the industry’s pioneering holding group, it has recently faced shrinking ad budgets and the loss of marquee clients.
The acquisition could revitalize its legacy, but the true test will be how this new advertising titan balances size, speed, and simplicity in a rapidly evolving market.
🎯 The Bottom Line
While it might feel like this will negatively impact smaller marketing agencies, history has proven that this gives smaller agencies a chance to focus on specific areas, or provide more personalized services that the big agencies might ignore.
TALENT: We’ve also seen in the past that big mergers change the culture of a company, and smaller firms could benefit from talented people leaving the big agencies to find a more nimble (and fun?) employer.
PARTNERSHIPS: Smaller agencies will also likely seek collabs or partnerships with other small firms to fill gaps and compete more effectively. This will create opportunities for freelancers and boutique agencies to work on projects together.
The Top Three 🥉
The industry’s most important stories today.
🥇 THREADS ANALYTICS
Threads is testing new post analytics that let users see detailed performance metrics for individual posts, including views, likes, replies, and follower versus non-follower engagement. This feature aims to help creators understand what content resonates more with their audience. more
🥈 PODCASTS GO B2B
The podcast analytics platform CoHost has launched a B2B Analytics feature that helps brands identify podcast listeners by job role and seniority (while still keeping their actual identity private). Users can filter and export the data into their CRM systems. Pricing starts at $99/month. more
🥉 META’S GET OUT OF JAIL CARD
Meta now offers Instagram creators a chance to avoid penalties by completing a short educational course for minor rule violations. This is a much better system than Meta’s previous method of simply banning accounts without explanation or appeal. more
Today’s Other News ☑︎
Everything else that matters.
Advertising 📣
ICYMI: Here’s a great summary of Meta’s plans to crack down on health- and finance-related ad campaigns. “The changes could prevent advertisers from being able to access… the purchases [consumers] made or the items they’ve placed in their online shopping carts.” more
📌 Do not sleep on this. If you market health products or financial services, this is a big deal.
Podcast advertising is booming, with 41% of marketers planning to increase spending in 2025. Consumers find podcast ads trustworthy and attention-grabbing, though some find them repetitive. more
GroupM predicts the global advertising industry will hit $1 trillion in revenue in 2024, with a 9.5% growth. Digital advertising will drive the increase, accounting for 81.7% of total ad revenues, while platforms like Google and Meta will continue to dominate the market more
DoubleVerify has launched a new tool it says will protect brands from having their ad show up on low-quality web sites (often rife with errors, editorial inconsistencies and plagiarism).
🤦🏻 This tool itself is AI-based, because of course it is. more
MarketingBrew reports agencies are ramping up healthcare marketing offerings, investing in specialized teams and strategies to tap into a booming industry with high demand for tailored campaigns.
😕 Weird timing, especially given Meta’s recent limitations on the healthcare sector. more
Search 🔍
It ain’t over… Google’s search ranking volatility continues post-core update. It’s possible that tiny algorithm changes are what’s affecting site visibility and traffic, but more than a few web admins have noticed it. more
…Until it’s over. The “Legacy tools and reports” section has finally been pulled from the side bar. This likely happened when Google removed the page experience report from Search Console about a month ago. more
📈 I’m still mad they said that Core Web Vitals really didn’t matter that much.
The TikTok Ban 👨🏻⚖️
U.S. TikTok creators are preparing for a potential ban by directing followers to YouTube and Instagram. The U.S. Appeals Court denied TikTok's appeal, potentially forcing a ban or sale in January. Some creators are warning their audiences about possible platform changes. More.
Meanwhile, TikTok filed has an emergency court motion to stop its potential ban until it can get in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing the legislation would cause over $1 billion in small business losses more.
🏇🏻 Personally, I’ve got my money on Trump giving them a series of extensions, one after another.
Social Media 📱
Turns out, relatively few users consistently post on social media platforms, despite growing consumption. “Using social media as a proxy for the public is a flawed approach, but it’s also the dominant driver of the day,” says Social Media Today’s Andrew Hutchinson. more
Snapchat revealed the its top trends of 2024. If you don’t know what the Ulta Beauty or göt2b Metallic filters are and you market to teens or in the beauty space, you should read more about it…
☔ 2025 might prove to be a challenging year for Snapchat. While it’s made strides in monetizing its platform through ads and sponsored content, it still struggles to maintain growth in advertising revenue.
Bluesky is exploring a paid subscription model with features like custom app icons, profile badges, higher-quality video uploads, post translations, and analytics. The platform needs to generate revenue; its CEO said last week they haven’t ruled out ads more.
Reddit launched Reddit Answers, a new AI-powered search tool that generates responses directly from Reddit posts. Initially available to limited US users on web and iOS, the tool provides quick summaries with source links more
😡 This is obviously a move to claw back traffic from Google, which many people use to find Reddit answers. But will that piss off Google, which recently signed a big deal with the platform?
Commerce 🛒
Chinese Amazon sellers are expanding to other platforms like Walmart, TikTok Shop, and Temu. They want to reduce reliance on Amazon — partially to diversify sales channels, and partially to mitigate risks of account bans. Some companies now generate significant revenue from more alternative marketplaces. more
Analytics 📈
Nielsen and TikTok have partnered to provide advertisers with cross-platform ad performance data. They say it should help brands compare their TikTok ad metrics with other media platforms, offering a better view of campaign effectiveness. more
TV and Video 📺
Connected TV ad spending is growing, with nine streaming services expected to generate over $1 billion in ad revenue by 2026. CTV viewership is increasing faster than ad spend, and services are pushing ad-supported plans. more
📺 Linear TV still dominates ad impressions, but CTV offers better targeting and measurement for advertisers.
AI 🤖
Google's Gemini AI now helps Gmail users summarize emails quickly (available through a paid account). The tool can condense single emails, email threads, and even monthly communications, with users able to ask specific questions about their inbox contents. The question is: Should you? more
🤫 Remember: Any data you send to the cloud for AI processing sends all of it — confidential information and all — to that company. This is why some companies like Apple make a big deal about their on-device processing.
WTF 🤣
Researchers at the City University of Hong Kong created a VR lollipop that simulates taste by using food-grade chemicals in gel pockets. When activated by voltage, the device can produce nine different flavors. more
👅 Yeah, that’s going to be a hard no from me lol
Marketing Tool of the Day 🔨
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Spotted on Social 🔍
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