With high wage costs and competition for talent hitting agency revenues, a new study from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) suggests the sector is facing its “worst-ever crisis” in recruitment. In a survey by the WFA and media advisory MediaSense, 85% of agencies reported that they faced a ”high” scarcity of talent while 54% […]
S4 Capital has been forced to push back the release of its full-year 2021 results for the second time this month, leading its share price to plunge 35%. Here’s what industry analysts have to say. S4 Capital, the advertising business owned by Sir Martin Sorrell, lost over a third of its market value after the […]
The deal, set to be completed in the coming days, will see the break up of the creative agency network The U.K. sector of Engine Group is set to be sold to communications group Next15. The sale has been ongoing for several months since Sky News first reported that its owners, Lake Capital, had appointed bank […]
As IPG’s Michael Roth steps down from the holding company, Barry Dudley examines what the departure means for the group, and the industry at large. It’s the end of an era – no, it really is. Michael Roth, 74, is retiring from what we used to call ’the ad business.’ Roth, who stepped down as […]
Much has been made in the media over the past few weeks of shortages – shortages of fuel, in the shops, of computer chips, CO2 gas, construction materials, shipping containers, of certain drugs, of lorry drivers, hospitality staff and care home workers… in short, the world is, for the time being at least, short of […]
After boasting of ‘unprecedented’ trading activity and unveiling a confident rebrand job, S4 Capital – now Media.Monks – is flying high. Tony Walford explains why the company is performing so well right now. If there’s one iron rule in the marcomms business, it’s this: never write Sir Martin Sorrell off. You do so at your […]
It’s been a funny century for the marketing and communications industry: the rise of holding groups, consolidation, startups, digital disruption, even a pandemic, the effects of which we cannot yet even begin to analyse let alone understand. In the tumultuous 20 years so far, many names have come and gone. Once-mighty agencies have been subsumed […]
Clearly the cost of the pandemic has been enormous and at some point it will have to be paid for. The most likely source of funds will be higher taxes and, whilst the current UK government is very reluctant to hit people directly in their pockets, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has been making noises that […]
Back in the summer, Q magazine closed. If you’re of a certain age, or have more than just a passing interest in music, you’ll remember Q in its pomp. It was launched in 1986, a product of the publisher EMAP’s can-do culture and devolved management style (of which more in just a second). Q’s decline […]
Advertising is, they say, a people business: Saatchi & Saatchi; J Walter Thompson; Ogilvy & Mather; Abbot Mead Vickers; Doyle, Dane Bernbach. Historically it was all about the name(s) on the door. Many ad agencies were built in the image of one man – back then sadly they were always men – or a couple […]