'There will be winners and losers' predicts Results International's Keith Hunt over Publicis Omnicom collapse
Following the collapse of the Publicis Omnicom merger,Keith Hunt, managing partner at Results International, told The Drum that it could be a beneficial development for the independent agency sector.
"Probably outside of Publicis and Omnicom, most people will think it's good for them. When the merger was announced, a lot of people were forecasting client fallout from clients who felt they had conflict between the two different groups and who felt that it would be too big to service them properly. People were forecasting the fallout of people who became disillusioned, career paths were blocked and that sort of thing. There will be winners and losers," he explained.
Hunt predicted that Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, would also be pleased with the collapse, as it means his company will retain its status as the world's largest marketing services network.
He speculated that it was unlikely that WPP would show any external change in its acquisition strategy, having continued to make acquisitions in developing countries and in digital companies, despite speculation of a major counter move in order to retain its status in the industry.
Hunt added: "The independent sector will probably see it as good thing, rather than having a huge player at the top end of the market, particularly in media buyer area. One of reasons for doing it was that it would have given them a massive advantage. Also in the area of technology and innovation, the big signs recently are that the big groups have been willing to invest in technology, more at WPP than Publicis and Omnicom, perhaps due to the focus on the merger. A lot of independent agencies are at the most innovative end of the marccoms industry spectrum and will probably be feeling that they have a little bit more room to breathe and they will also become targets for major groups who consistently use acquisitions to play catch-up to buy in the skills to develop themselves."
Publicis will hold a press conference this morning to discuss the collapse.