There is no need to write an introduction explaining why I’ve pulled together this piece with my team at Green Square. What we have done is gather our thoughts and learnings, and put them together with the experience of various peers in the industry who have been through dark times before. We hope that what […]
What’s next for beleaguered M&C Saatchi is the question now being asked after the resignation of the agency’s co-founder and three fellow directors in a shock move many have described as a “sad” ending to the advertising mogul’s career. Yesterday (10 December) Lord Maurice Saatchi resigned from the agency alongside board directors Lord Michael Dobbs, Sir Michael […]
One of the biggest talking points in our industry over the past few months has been what might colloquially be termed a “cock-up in the accounts department” over at M&C Saatchi. To recap: back in August, it was announced the AIM-listed indie network’s auditors, KPMG, had raised concerns regarding accounting controls following an audit review. […]
In 2017 I gave a talk in Amsterdam in conjunction with The Drum titled ‘First Up Best Dressed – A Hothouse of Creative Talent‘. The talk looked at the potential focus of marcoms and marketing technology acquirers on the Netherlands post-Brexit. Since giving this talk, we have seen the well-publicised acquisition of MediaMonks by Sir […]
One of the big stories in the marcomms industry over the past few years has been the rise of the consultancies – PwC, Accenture, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Grant Thornton, McKinsey et al – as major players in the mergers and acquisition (M&A) space. Naturally, much of the focus has been on Accenture’s Interactive division, […]
As a Chelsea fan, the recent Carabao Cup final was one to forget – the first shot on target wasn’t until the 43rd minute, 0 – 0 after full time and extra time, ultimately dumped in a penalty shoot-out. But arguably the biggest talking point came from a brief and extraordinary period when the Chelsea […]
Much has been made over the past few years of the threat posed to traditional ad and marcomms agencies by the management consultancies. This was especially true when Karmarama, one of the last remaining London indies of any scale, was snapped up not by a WPP or Omnicom, as one might expect, but by consulting […]
Mark Read promised “decisive action” to revive WPP and his latest intervention – merging 154-year-old ad agency JWT with digital goliath Wunderman – does not disappoint. Not only does it call time on the world’s oldest-standing agency brand, but it signals how advertising agencies, no matter how renowned, will not be the driving force behind […]
You can’t keep Sir Martin Sorrell down, or out of the news. Shares in Sir Martin’s new venture, S4 Capital Group, were last week re-admitted to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market. The relisting of the shares follows Sorrell’s taking the helm at Derriston Capital back in May (shares were suspended immediately), its reverse merger […]
WPP has named Mark Read as its chief executive after a period as joint chief operating officer, succeeding Sir Martin Sorrell who departed in April. Read, who held the post of global chief executive of Wunderman until stepping up alongside Andrew Scott to helm the company while a successor was sought, has long been the […]