In an era where holding companies and global advertising networks are consolidating, the fate of individual agency brands seems increasingly uncertain. The recent trend of cross-brand mergers, often driven by cost-efficiency and strategic realignments, raises the question: is the age of the agency brand coming to a close?
Take, for instance, WPP’s sweeping overhaul that has seen three of its most iconic brands disappear — J. Walter Thompson, Young & Rubicam, and Wunderman, with a combined history spanning over 300 years, absorbed into VML. It was part of the broader consolidation strategy under Mark Read, who became WPP’s CEO in 2018. In the preceding years, VML merged with Y&R to form VMLY&R, while Wunderman and JWT combined into Wunderman Thompson. WPP’s other recent creation was EssenceMediacom, fusing its two media investments firms – Essence and MediaCom. The overhaul took WPP’s media services entity GroupM from four to three flagship agencies: EssenceMediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker.
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When holding companies consolidate, they often inherit a vast network of agencies, many of which operate as generalist, full-service firms. In such a crowded landscape, where differentiation is often minimal, agencies increasingly find themselves competing on legacy and established relationships, rather than on innovation or distinct value propositions. As a result, some agencies risk fading into irrelevance, or worse, disappearing altogether.
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Sandeep Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director of Rediffusion, observes that holding companies often begin “rationalizing” the brands under their umbrella, a process that frequently leads to the elimination or closure of certain agencies.
In India, the fate of Clarion, once the country’s second-largest agency, serves as a case in point. After merging with Bates, Bates itself was eventually shuttered, and Clarion was all but erased from the landscape. A similar story unfolded when Enterprise merged with Nexus+Equity, only to be sold off to Lowe. Before long, the agency vanished entirely. Publicis also followed this path, acquiring Capital Advertising two decades ago, only to absorb it into the larger organization. Like its predecessors, the agency simply disappeared from the market one day.
This trend appears poised to continue with the recent proposed mega merger of advertising holdcos Omnicom and Interpublic Group (IPG). The deal, valued at roughly $30 billion with $65 billion in global media billings, is expected to lead to a major restructuring of the combined entity, potentially resulting in the consolidation or elimination of many of its constituent agencies. Industry veterans like Goyal anticipate that such mergers will lead to the rationalization of brands, especially in markets like India, where local agencies often hold stronger cultural equity than their global counterparts.
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Ashish Bhasin, founder of The Bhasin Consulting Group, further notes that the frequent rebranding and restructuring of agencies like IPG-owned Lintas, a brand with deep roots in India, can erode the value these names hold in specific markets.
As holding companies align globally, brands with varying or limited international recognition may face extinction, sacrificing their unique cultural significance.
This tendency to streamline brands for operational efficiency is not without precedent. Similar moves have unfolded at WPP and Dentsu, where a once sprawling portfolio of agency brands has been pared down, allowing for a more streamlined operation and a muddling of agency brands.
Experts argue that such consolidation may come at the expense of creativity and cultural individuality.
Nisha Singhania, CEO of Infectious Advertising, cautions that in an industry built on relationships and ideas, the value of an agency brand lies not just in its name, but in its distinct culture and values. When agencies are subsumed under a “one-size-fits-all” structure, clients seeking bespoke solutions may find themselves lost in the shuffle.
Gautam Reghunath, CEO of Talented, points to the example of Webchutney, which flourished after being integrated into the Dentsu network in 2012. “I loved how dentsu went about our integration within the dentsu aegis network in 2012-13. They saw a brand in webchutney that deserved a bigger stage and gave us one,” says Reghunath, prefixing his statement with the view that ‘webchutney’ as a brand “may be next to non-existent now.”
Such examples may spotlight the potential for acquirers to strategically leverage new brands to fill gaps in their portfolios. Still, these acquisitions often raise the issue of how to balance operational synergies with the creative identities that made these agencies successful in the first place. A few years ago, Regunath, who was leading dentsu Webchutney left, with several others, to start Talented. Another independent firm acquired by dentsu was Taproot, at one point the hottest creative shop in India. That is no longer the case for Taproot dentsu, a part of a larger entity – Dentsu Creative.
Ultimately, the fate of agency brands in the global holding company era is not a simple matter of obsolescence.
As Arnab Mitra, founder of Liqvd Asia, puts it, while mergers may sometimes threaten the legacy and emotional equity of established brands, they are also driven by market realities. The real challenge for holding companies lies in how they manage the balance between the efficiencies of consolidation and the preservation of the creative, cultural identities that made these agencies distinctive.
“Merging agency brands without sufficient consideration of their cultural and creative identities risks alienating talent and clients who were drawn to the uniqueness of these brands,” Mitra warns.
But, as consolidation continues, independent agencies may find room to thrive, industry observers indicate. These smaller firms, often more agile and purpose-driven, represent a counterpoint to the monolithic structures of the large holding companies. They offer a glimpse into a future where creativity, culture, and commerce intersect in dynamic ways, driven by a commitment to individuality over process. While the loss of iconic agency names may be a blow to the industry’s heritage, it could also pave the way for a new era of entrepreneurial spirit and innovation.