Omnicom and Publicis Decided to Merge; Will Form the Biggest Ad Firm of the World

Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe declared on 28 July 2013 that they decided to merge in all-stock deal for creating the largest advertising company of the world. The new advertising company will be known as Publicis Omnicom Groupe.

Major points linked with the merger

• The new advertising company will be called Publicis Omnicom Groupe.
• After the merger, this would be the biggest advertising firm of the world.
• It was decided that the shareholders of New York-based Omnicom and Paris-based Publicis will hold 50 percent each in the new company.
• The Chief Executive Officer of Publicis- Maurice Levy and the Chief Executive Officer of Omnicom- John Wren will be the co-CEOs at the new company.
• Both Publicis and Omnicom will have the combined market value of 35 billion US dollar.
• With the merger, the advertising agencies such as Publicis's Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi as well as Omnicom's BBDO Worldwide, will come under one umbrella, thereby expanding the presence in each and every major market.
• The merger will enable the owners in getting better influence for negotiating deals for the clients for the purpose of better ad rates for placing the ads in various media vehicles.
• This merger is said to be the biggest in the whole advertising world. Earlier, Japan's Dentsu had agreed to acquire Aegis Group for around 4.9 billion US dollar.
• The proposed combination might attract regulatory scrutiny in US as well as Europe because these two companies overlap the market share.
• Together, the two companies spent 3.34 billion US dollar in media placement in the year 2012, as per the data revealed by Advertising Age.
It is important to note that Publicis, Omnicom and London-based WPP have grown considerably through consolidation over past decades because they all compete with each other for the accounts.

About Publicis Groupe

• Publicis Groupe is the third largest advertising firm of the world.
• It has large portfolios of the digital assets which include Razorfish, LBI International as well as Digitas.
• It also has the portfolio of agencies in the emerging markets too.
• The network of this group includes Leo Burnett Worldwide as well as Publicis Worldwide.

About Omnicom Group

• Omnicom Group is the leading global advertising and marketing communications Services Company.
• Omnicom Group Network includes DDB Worldwide Communications Group, TBWA Worldwide as well as BBDO Worldwide.
• The services provided by this firm include strategic media planning and buying, advertising, digital and interactive marketing, PR services, specialty communications services as well as direct and promotional marketing.
• It has more than 5000 clients who are spread across 100 countries of the world.