PwC, Uber and Zoopla win big at the 2014 City A.M. Awards November 13, 2014 From Legal & General boss Nigel Wilson to WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, you could barely move at the fifth annual City A.M. Awards – held last night at the Grange St Paul's Hotel – without bashing elbows with a few City grandees. The ceremony celebrated the brightest and best of the nation's money-makers – [...]
Our awards are here – dig out those gladrags November 12, 2014 FROM top hats to Louboutins, the City is dusting off its finest this morning for tonight’s hugely anticipated City A.M. awards at Grange St Paul’s Hotel. With 14 awards to hand over, we’re looking forward to loading up the mantelpieces of the City’s most hard-working and successful names. In the running we’ve got well-known City [...]
Carat secures £140m UK government deal November 9, 2014 THE UK government’s £140m media buying account has been awarded to agency Carat, after a legal challenge by WPP-owned M4C was shot down by the courts last week. While Carat was handed the account in September, incumbent agency M4C lodged a complaint over the way the pitching process had been handled, delaying the approval of [...]
WPP agency Mindshare’s UK boss Mark Creighton on wearable technology and collaboration between agencies November 9, 2014 It's no secret that the media business is changing irrevocably because of digital technologies. But while some agency execs yearn for the age of bulk media contracts negotiated over a long, boozy lunch with TV bosses, Mindshare’s Mark Creighton comes across as positively electrified by the new digital frontier. He talks to City [...]
War of words as Publicis defends Sapient buyout November 3, 2014 French advertising giant Publicis Groupe will buy US digital ad specialist Sapient for $3.7bn (£2.3bn) in cash as it seeks to accelerate growth after a botched merger earlier this year. While Publicis chairman and chief executive Maurice Levy labelled Sapient a “crown jewel” in the announcement, the chief executive of rival ad group WPP, [...]
A digital billboard revolution: The top out-of-home advertising sites changing the face of London November 2, 2014 In creative terms, advertising mediums can be split into “hot” and “cool” media. This distinction was first put forward by Canadian media critic Marshall McLuhan 50 years ago. The difference is that hot media grabs you, whereas people actively choose to get involved with cool media – the audience does the grabbing. Print, cinema, [...]
WPP share price rises after unexpected sales slow down October 31, 2014 Growth at the world’s largest advertising group, WPP, has unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter as geopolitical tension and global economic woes take their toll. Like-for-like net sales in the three months to 30 September grew three per cent, compared with expectations of 3.3 per cent and 4.1 per cent in the first half of [...]
Best of the Brokers for 28 October 2014 October 27, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com 4IMPRINT GROUP WH Ireland reiterated its “buy” rating following a trading update last week. The broker said the company had proved able to exploit opportunities which it has identified, resulting in very encouraging organic growth based on sustainable market share gains. RAMBLER METALS [...]
Banks to report as BT is likely to reveal growth – London Report October 26, 2014 THIS WEEK sees a number of banks reporting, with four of the UK’s five biggest lenders due to reveal third-quarter results. Lloyds and Standard Chartered report tomorrow. With Lloyds the focus is expected to be on 9,000 job cuts and a string of branch closures. Standard Chartered’s execs have been under pressure this year. After [...]
Publicis Groupe buys a discounted 20pc stake in Matomy Media October 13, 2014 French advertising giant Publicis Groupe bought a 20 per cent stake in Israel-based digital advertising group Matomy Media for 227p per share yesterday, with an option of buying another 4.9 per cent. The deal was done below Matomy’s Friday closing price of 238p and the Israeli group’s founding shareholders were given permission by the broker [...]