World’s largest ad agency bucks grad hiring slowdown – ‘We have to train the next gen’ Media The world’s largest advertising agency is hiring more graduate roles than ever in the face of artificial intelligence’s rise, gearing junior training to be more focused on client management, its UK media boss has said, bucking a global slowdown in junior white-collar employment. Niel Bornman, UK chief executive of Publicis Media, said the proliferation of [...]
Are we witnessing the slow death of advertising holding companies? Media The feted founder of AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed, has launched a new agency that promises to take on the “slow, bureaucratic” ad groups that since the pandemic have have been labouring under stagnant revenues and falling share prices. Ali Lyon asks: “Are those holding companies on borrowed time?” Ajaz Ahmed is not a man to shy [...]
City Hall skills bootcamps to receive £27m funding boost Politics City Hall is set to receive a funding boost of £27m for a skills bootcamp programme for Londoners, Sir Sadiq Khan has announced. The mayor of London has welcomed the funding from the Department for Education (DfE) which represents a 25 per cent annual uplift for the programme of flexible courses, across some 7,700 trainees, [...]
Omnicom and IPG staff fret for their future after $13bn mega merger December 12, 2024 Omnicom and IPG sent shockwaves through the advertising sector when they announced a $13bn merger on Monday. Ali Lyon looks at what the deal means for the firms’ agencies, staff and the ad industry as a whole. Advertising, according to Mad Men’s Don Draper, is based on one thing: happiness. Happiness, the protagonist of the [...]
Omnicom scoops up media giant IPG in $13bn deal December 9, 2024 US advertising giant Omnicom Group has bought rival media holding company Interpublic Group in a $13.25bn (£10.4bn) deal that has uprooted the media industry and will make Omnicom the world’s largest advertising agency. The tie-up between the third and fourth largest media holding giants, both of which employ tens of thousands of staff in the [...]
WPP could lose crown as largest ad agency amid Omnicom and Interpublic merger December 9, 2024 FTSE 100 giant WPP is under threat of losing its spot as the largest advertising company in the world for the first time in decades as American rivals Omnicom and Interpublic consider a merger. Over the weekend, news emerged that Omnicom and Interpublic are discussing terms of a $30bn (£23.6bn) merger. This could catapult the [...]
‘Were did you get that?’ How an entrepreneur is taking word of mouth online November 26, 2024 How many times have you found yourself distracted by a paid advertisement pop-up while endlessly scrolling through your favourite social media platform? This type of algorithm is an average experience for the majority of social media users today, and one that often dominates a large portion of any brand’s marketing budget. Tiktok, for example, is [...]
London’s most respected ad guru on why data giants Publicis and WPP have it wrong May 13, 2024 The former chief of operations at Publicis says brands that still launch with a TV ad and a poster blows his mind.