We’ve written many times in the past about the challenges the big consulting and accountancy groups – KPMG, Deloitte, PwC, Grant Thornton, McKinsey et al – pose to the established advertising networks. Indeed, in recent times, the big boys have been emulating the likes of WPP and Publicis by snapping up startups and promising small […]
Cheil Worldwide, the South Korean marketing services group which is part of the mighty Samsung empire, posted some interesting news last week – that it was consolidating its entire global retail resource under a single banner. Called Cheil Retail, the new unit will be led by Simon Hathaway as the global chief retail office. Hathaway […]
Whether you read, or were a fan of, the publication in question or not, the closure of a national newspaper is always an event, and a cause for reflection. First of all, it’s a relatively rare occurrence; and secondly, anything that reduces the size of the pool, or shrinks its diversity, is something that anyone […]
Apple has been the world’s most valuable company (at least measured by its market cap, if not sales) for so long now that it’s easy to forget that it was not always so. Back in the late 1990s, before the return of co-founder Steve Jobs, Apple was months – some say weeks – away from […]
We tend to think of advertising and marketing as very modern businesses – especially when we think of channels such as digital, mobile and eCRM. But the truth is, advertising of one sort or another goes back centuries, back to the dawn of capitalism; some would argue way, way before that – the ancient Egyptians […]
While a busy year overall, 2015 was a fairly quiet one in terms of big pure-marcomms M&A activity, for obvious reasons – there aren’t that many large independent properties for the big groups to snap up; most of them have been bought! With Publicis’ multi-billion-dollar purchase last February of the Sapient group, there are virtually […]
Whether a business’s planned exit route is via a trade sale, management buy out or an IPO, there are two key financial elements that will enhance value: 1. Ensuring operational excellence, and here we are talking about size, market positioning, client spread, team, growth strategy and having decent financials and 2. Being prepared for the […]
For some time now WPP has been the most acquisitive of all the global holding companies, making numerous smaller acquisitions in dynamic, fast-growing territories, with the odd big deal from time to time. Last week (4 November) the group announced one of its biggest and most intriguing deals of 2015 – it bought a majority […]
Last month ITV, the UK’s largest free-to-air commercial broadcaster, celebrated its 60th anniversary. ITV (that’s both the ITV network, as well as ITV plc, which owns the network along with STV Group) is now such a part of the broadcasting landscape that it’s hard to imagine that it was once regarded as a threat to […]
There’s been a lot of talk these past few days about ad blockers, those clever little apps and web browser widgets that stop you getting bugged by advertising. No wonder – when Apple, one of the most-watched and most-followed tech companies in the world, does something (in this case, allowing ad blockers on its mobile […]