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There was much excitement at Bankside 3 when the chief executives of Interpublic and Omnicom, Philippe Krakowsky and John Wren, respectively, came to London for meetings with UK agency bosses and intermediaries last month. And not only about the umbrella dryers in receptioni.
One of their messages to the pitch consultants was that it is currently business as usual. They are not yet wearing the same jersey and want to face each other in the scrum. Given that UBS has predicted that IPG might lose 10% of its client revenues because of merger disruption, you can see the commercial imperative. But there is also a desire not to upset any of the 17 regulatory authorities who need to approve the deal for it to go through and will not take kindly to either party assuming they have already finished the match.
Given that, I thought it was interesting that Interpublic network MullenLowe has no immediate plans to replace chief executive Claire Hollands’ spot in its first XVii. We found this out in a story on the departure of the shop’s chief growth officer, Lucy Taylor. MullenLowe is not currently looking for a substitute for Taylor either. The agency is in the hands of its chairman, Tom Knox, and managing director, Katie McCambley, for the time being. A spokesperson for IPG said this structure would provide a path to growth within the network for talent like McCambley, as well as strong support to the agency’s local and multinational network clients.
Across the City on Bishopsgate, Polly McMorrow is preparing to leave her role as the chief executive at MullenLowe’s sister shop, McCann London, to launch a new business with Adam & Eve/DDB’s Richard Brim and Martin Beverley. A spokesperson from McCann said it would replace her as captain.
When asked about the different approaches to Hollands and McMorrow’s departure, the IPG spokesperson said McCann UK is a large multidisciplinary operation with several scaled offices in the market, while MullenLowe is more focused with a deep leadership team in place. The spokesperson denied there were any plans to merge its advertising networks, which also include FCB, and said MullenLowe will remain an independent brand.
One of the unfortunate consequences of not writing a column every week is that events can deem your insightful and thought-throughiii opinions completely irrelevant. And so, last year, it came to pass for me on the matter of Interpublic’s relationship with its digital networks R/GA and Huge. A number of sources suggested to me that Interpublic’s structure and strategy excacerbated the structural conditions for digitally focused shops. The suggestion was that such brands could fare better inside a more integrated squad or once merged with an agency that offered other services. Executives not being replaced was also highlighted as an issue at R/GA.
A spokesperson for IPG said: “The suggestion that those brands would have performed better within another holding company is inaccurate. Collaboration is a key metric in the incentive plan IPG has in place for its leaders and agencies, and that plan has been in place for well over a decade. Examples of this collaborative culture are the recent Kellanova win and the Kimberly-Clark win.”
It is evidently true that Huge and RGA are far from the only brands with challenges. There have been changes at and departures from WPP’s AKQA, which is part of a group with Grey, and redundancies at S4 Capital’s Monks.
That said, I believed (and still believe) Huge and R/GA could have a more successful future under new owners. Huge’s future is, of course, settled. Private equity firm AEA Investors bought it in December, two months after IPG said both networks would report separately as they were “held for sale”. A deal for R\GA is also expected.
From the outside, the IPG plan appeared to be “rationalising” these businesses to focus on the rest of the company, which includes FCB and IPG Mediabrands. Given that, I feel for the people working for the bit that was (privately) for sale the whole time. After feeling relatively safe and possibly even sorry for their colleagues, they are facing what could be the biggest acquisition in the sector – assuming it goes through. And some of them don’t have a permanent leader to keep their spirits up.
I’m not suggesting the answer is straightforward. After all, it must be challenging to transfer people into senior roles amid this uncertainty. Never mind whether it raises ethical issues. But, just as the England rugby team found at the weekend, the game can turn on its head in the last stretch. And that’s why it’s important for me to write every week.
Maisie McCabe is the UK editor of Campaign.
i A thorough operations director planning for all eventualities, perhaps.
ii She will take on the same position at Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi in March.
iii This is a joke.
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