"Omni is the operating layer, Acxiom is the dense, famously hard-to-harmonize data spine IPG staked its future on in 2018. If this merger has teeth, this is where it shows up. The tell: Acxiom stops operating as a standalone commercial entity. No separate P&L, no parallel sales structure. Its components get absorbed into Omni's framework and its identity resolution becomes a baseline capability across every Omnicom and legacy IPG shop. Not a premium add-on, or bespoke project - just part of the system."
"The flop: If, 18 months from now, Acxiom is still a "preferred partner" with its own separate sales funnel and a labyrinth of integration requirements. That would signal a cosmetic acquisition. In agency terms, it's buying the library and keeping the books in storage. The great agency branding purge (or the 'too many kitchens' tell) Omnicom and IPG each hold overlapping creative and media networks, assembled over years to avoid client conflict and preserve internal fiefdoms. That sprawl has become untenable"
The merger creates an oversized holding company at a moment when the holdco model is strained. Success depends on how the new entity integrates technology, data, client transitions, leadership and brands. The crucial indicator is whether Acxiom is absorbed into Omni as a baseline capability rather than maintained as a standalone commercial partner. Failure to fully integrate would indicate a cosmetic acquisition and preserve internal fragmentation. Rapid, disciplined consolidation of overlapping creative and media networks will determine whether the combined firm scales inefficiencies or breaks past inherited patterns to operate as a unified, efficient organism.
Read at Digiday
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