I had the pleasure of writing this article from Australia (where I was for the last couple of weeks of the year), whilst absorbing myself in the marketing culture of this fine country. As everyone knows, Australia is not only vast, but a long way away. However, it’s not vast in population terms at 23.4 […]
The new year couldn’t have gotten off to a better start – at least for M&A buffs in the marcomms industry. Just yesterday (9 January), Yannick Bolloré, the newly-installed boss at holding group Havas, seemingly left the door open on the subject of whether Havas may be sold at some stage in the future. The […]
So, farewell then 2013, the year that saw the biggest deal (the $35bn Publicis-Omnicom mega-merger) in the history of the marketing communications industry. It was a good year for anyone with even a passing interest in mergers and acquisitions, but what of 2014? What does next year hold – and for the big international groups […]
The deal that really caught my eye this week was Apple’s buyout of the ‘social analytics’ firm Topsy Labs on Tuesday. Apple paid $200m for the company – which collects data from Twitter that potentially provides insights into social media users’ viewing habits – and it raised a lot of eyebrows. Now, $200m may be […]
Ok, let’s deal with some of this week’s big news first. It seems that the rumours that have been circulating for days were true: yesterday (21 November) Publicis Groupe confirmed it was “in discussions” with M&C Saatchi with a view to taking over Walker Media. What direction the discussions are going to take, we don’t […]
One of the great (and most striking) things about being in this business – marketing communications – is just how diverse it has become. Had Green Square been in existence 20 years ago, we’d have almost entirely been advising ad agencies, with the odd direct and experiential shop thrown in. Looking over the Green Square […]
There’s a common popular misconception that the creative and marketing industries are all exclusively based in, and obsessed with, London. While it’s undeniable that the capital is the centre of the UK marcomms industry, not everything happens there. Over the years at Green Square we’ve worked with all manner of businesses based outside of London […]
“Chapeaux off to Maurice”. On Monday morning (29 July), a bullish-sounding Sir Martin Sorrell appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme to comment on the stunning Omnicom-Publicis merger, which had been unveiled to an astonished world less than 24 hours earlier. The coming together of the world’s second and third-largest marcomms holding companies created a $35bn […]
WPP have been at it again. Yep, Sir Martin Sorrell’s company has been on the acquisitions trail once more. One of the interesting things about this particular group is its ability to think long term, and to move into emerging markets, often before anyone else does. We’re very used to WPP snapping up shops in […]
Of all the established industries disrupted by the disruptive technology that is the internet, none has been more badly battered than the music business. There’s a certain irony in this – the music biz embraced digital technology enthusiastically (as both a format in the form of CDs, and as technology, such as the use of […]