17202: Omnicom, IPG, FTC, WTF.

 

Adweek reported the Omnicom acquisition of IPG is closer to being a done deal, as the FTC approved a revised consent decree preventing the White holding company from denying advertising revenue to publishers based on ideological or political stances.

 

Interesting how Adland is not trusted in certain matters, prompting the need for governmental regulation and enforcement.

 

Yet even when DEIBA+ was considered an imperative, White advertising agencies enjoyed self-regulation—and abject failure was acceptable.

 

FTC Locks In Omnicom–IPG Deal With Stricter Ad Rules 

 

Consent decree bans Omnicom from denying ad dollars to publishers based on political or ideological viewpoints

 

By Audrey Kemp

 

The FTC has approved a revised final consent order tied to Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG), explicitly preventing the company from denying ad dollars to publishers based on political or ideological viewpoints—unless a client expressly directs it.

 

In June, the FTC conditionally cleared the deal with a proposed consent decree barring politically motivated ad boycotts. That order is now final, with added oversight and a clarification of scope.

 

After a mandatory public comment period, the FTC revised the order to add a compliance monitor and ensure that the restrictions only apply within the United States. The commission voted 2-0-1 to approve the order, with Commissioner Mark R. Meador recused.

 

The FTC said advertising holding companies, including through industry trade groups, have at times coordinated boycotts of certain media sites, cutting off their ad revenue and weakening their ability to produce content.

 

The order bars Omnicom from keeping exclusion lists or ideology-based blocklists unless a particular advertiser asks for one—putting the decision back in the hands of its clients.

 

The merger also cleared a key U.K. review last month, when the Competition and Markets Authority declined to escalate the deal to a phase-two probe. The European Union remains among the regulators still reviewing the transaction.

 

Omnicom and IPG had already been under scrutiny by the FTC, which issued a second information request earlier in the year, signaling deeper antitrust review.

 

IPG’s Q2 revenue fell year over year, but its margin hit a record high as it cut costs in anticipation of the merger. Omnicom continues to expect the deal to close in the second half of 2025.

 

The decision shows regulators are paying closer attention to how advertising holding companies use their market power in ways that could impact the flow of advertising dollars online.

17201: Underrepresented Voices Having Their Say.

Advertising Age published another Hispanic Heritage Month perspective, imploring brands to engage underrepresented voices.

 

This op-ed comes from the CEO of Lerma Advertising, a multicultural marketing shop with historical ties to The Richards Group—now known as TRG.

 

Don’t expect any color commentary from Stan Richards.

 

Why brands must lead with underrepresented voices to grow

 

By Pedro Lerma

 

I’ve been in this business long enough to know one thing: The future doesn’t look like the past. Too many marketers are clinging to what they believe is the “mainstream,” afraid that if they lean into underrepresented voices, they’ll lose their base. But here’s the truth: The mainstream doesn’t look like it used to. America doesn’t look like it used to. And neither do the audiences driving growth. So, what to do?

 

The case for the underrepresented

 

First, we need to get real. The “underrepresented” aren’t niche audiences. They are cultural powerhouses who represent enormous growth opportunities. And the underrepresented are different for each brand.

 

Whether it’s Hispanic Americans, Black Americans, Asian Americans, women, LGBTQ+ communities or people with disabilities, they aren’t sitting on the sidelines. They’re creating businesses that drive our economy, the music we dance to, the books we read, the shows we binge, the fashion we wear, the food we crave, the podcasts we stream, the slang we speak and the movements we follow.

 

Kantar research shows that 75% of all consumers say a brand’s degree of representation influences their purchase decisions. That means when you lead with underrepresented voices, you have an opportunity for “positive spillover.” In leading with the underrepresented in stories based on universal human truths, you’re not just talking to the underrepresented—you’re deepening your connection with your legacy customers, too.

 

What holds brands back?

 

I get it; it’s not easy. In today’s environment, every campaign lives in a political context. And that makes brands and agencies nervous. But here’s the reality: staying homogeneous doesn’t protect you; it exposes you. Playing it safe is a mirage and a one-way ticket to irrelevance.

 

Some brands worry they’ll alienate their core audience. My experience? The opposite happens. When you tell a story with empathy, nuance and cultural fluency, it resonates universally. You don’t lose people; you pull them in.

 

Here’s how brands have succeeded:

 

Earn the right to tell the story

 

First, don’t fake it. I once pitched a concept about gender pay equity to an automotive client. They loved it, but believed they still had work to do internally before they could authentically tell that story. It was a humble and wise move on their part because audiences can smell performative behavior from a mile away.

 

Invite them to the table

 

Include people from the community you’re representing in your creative development and validation process. The right voices early on make all the difference.

 

Start with the story, not the segment

 

I loved this Amazon ad featuring and narrated by a user experience designer who is deaf. While I have not experienced hearing loss, Brendan’s story still moved me deeply and made me feel better about the brand. I also expect that people who are deaf or have experienced hearing loss feel seen in a deeper, more personal way.

 

Make underrepresented audiences the hero—not the afterthought

 

When Modelo celebrated Hispanic NFL players and mentorship, it wasn’t about being political. It was about empowerment.

 

Design for cultural relevance, then scale universally

 

Cheerios once told a story about an interracial family. It meant a lot to that specific audience, but it also appealed to any parent of a precocious kid.

 

Use cultural catalysts

 

With the World Cup and Olympics on the horizon, brands have the chance to consider important questions like “Will our communications follow past recipes?” or “Will we use these massive moments to feature new heroes in our storytelling?”

 

Be humble

 

Get ready for feedback—and listen. If you miss the mark, own it. Respond with humility and a willingness to grow. That’s how you build trust that lasts.

 

Leading with underrepresented audiences is a superpower, and the choice is clear: Cling to yesterday’s assumptions, or embrace tomorrow’s audiences. Those who do the latter will not only grow their revenue—they’ll be shaping the future.

 

When brands make space for everyone, everyone shows up.

17200: Stereotypical Storytelling…?

Oniria\TBWA in Paraguay is responsible for this ueno Bank campaign explained as follows:

 

To announce Paraguay’s return to a World Cup after 15 years, ueno Bank, the official sponsor of the Paraguayan national football team, launches a film where Paraguay’s comeback is told as a nightmare—a dramatization from the perspective of countries that faced tough matches against Paraguay in past World Cups.

 

Okay, but the use of cultural stereotypes is kinda scary.

17199: Scam Ham Campaign…?

Can’t help but wonder if this Izidoro ham campaign from o escritório in Portugal—praising “Artisanal Intelligence” over artificial intelligence—utilized AI for its oh-so-perfect product shot.

17198: TGIF = Terminating Groups Inside Fiverr.

 

In 2023, Fiverr ran the campaign depicted above, and Advertising Age spotlighted the work with a headline reading, “Freelance marketplace Fiverr tackles AI job fears in new campaign.”

 

Almost exactly two years later, Reuters reported, “Online marketplace Fiverr to lay off 30% of workforce in AI push”—with the Fiverr CEO declaring, “We are launching a transformation for Fiverr, to turn Fiverr into an AI-first company that’s leaner, faster, with a modern AI-focused tech infrastructure, a smaller team, each with substantially greater productivity, and far fewer management layers.”

 

In other words, clients can decline crowdsourced cheap logos and choose AI-generated cheap logos instead.

 

Fiverr can cheaply revamp its campaign too, as depicted below.

17197: The Nature Of Deceptive Advertising.

 

WWF declares, “Without nature, 63% of our medication wouldn’t exist.”

 

Okay, but the image is kinda odd, as healthcare waste poses serious adverse effects to nature. And isn’t outdoor advertising—especially pharmaceutical promotion—essentially polluting the environment?

17196: All Multicultural Marketer Pitches Look Alike.

 

Advertising Age published a perspective titled, “Why Hispanic Heritage Month must be more than a marketing campaign”—supporting the observation of an earlier post.

 

That is, multicultural marketers deliver cookie-cutter commentary before, during, and after every Fill-In-The-Minority Heritage Month.

 

The content in Ad Age opened by declaring, “It’s that time of the year again.”

 

Then the author regurgitated the routine plea for billable business throughout the entire year—which brands ultimately ignore every year, again and again.

 

It’s time to write a fresh brief to inspire more convincing calls for cultural commitment and crumbs.

 

Why Hispanic Heritage Month must be more than a marketing campaign

 

By Fran Leibaschoff

 

It’s that time of year again. The moment when brands suddenly remember how much they supposedly value the Hispanic community.

 

The volume goes up. Bad Bunny, Shakira, Maluma. The parrilladas light up. The sobremesas get longer. Everyone’s ready to celebrate.

 

But this year, the vibe feels different. While some are putting on their fiesta faces, others are quietly shrinking back, feeling invisible, left out or altogether forgotten.

 

And no, this isn’t about being overly sensitive or playing the novela card. This is about the very real cultural and business moment we’re in. It’s a moment when the lines between DEI and Hispanic marketing are blurred, and not in a good way. And while some brands are doubling down, others are quietly pulling back just when they should be leaning in.

 

Let’s pause for a quick reality check.

 

There are more than 60 million Hispanics in the U.S. We’re not a niche. We’re not a trend. We’re not going anywhere.

 

We’re raising families, building businesses, shaping culture and driving economic growth. We’re the youngest and fastest-growing demographic in the country, with a median age of 30 and more than 75% U.S.-born.

 

The latest data we have indicates that we are now contributing more than $ 4.1 trillion to the U.S. economy (growing at 4.4% annually). U.S. Latinos would rank as the fifth-largest economy in the world.

 

And yet, too often, we’re treated like an afterthought.

 

Hispanic marketing isn’t about checking a box or filling a quota. It’s not a seasonal campaign. It’s not charity work. It’s smart business. It’s a strategy. It’s about understanding culture, nuance, values and building authentic relationships that last.

 

Let’s also be clear. DEI is about equity and inclusion within organizations. Hispanic marketing is about connecting with real people in the real world in ways that resonate and convert.

 

They are not the same. And when budgets get tight or DEI becomes politically uncomfortable, guess which investment usually disappears first? Bingo. We’ve seen it time and again. And it sends a message, even if it’s unintentional.

 

During Hispanic Heritage Month, brands face a choice. They can show up meaningfully, not just with maracas and hashtags, but with a long-term vision.

 

Or they can sit it out. But understand what that signals to a community that shows up every single day, to work, to build, to buy, to lead, and yes, to celebrate.

 

I’ve spent more than two decades working with this audience. One thing I can tell you: Latinos are incredibly loyal. But we also notice who’s there for the long haul and who shows up only for the party.

 

So, if you’re asking what’s the right way to show up, here’s a start. Let Hispanic Heritage Month be the kickoff, not the culmination. Make it the start of a deeper commitment. Not a one-month campaign but a lasting relationship.

 

If Latinos already account for approximately $4 trillion in U.S. purchasing power in 2024, wouldn’t it make sense to allocate a proportionate share of your marketing budget?

 

After all, much of your Gen Z audience is Hispanic-born and represents the future. Hispanics are significantly overrepresented in younger demographics.

 

Yes, we know how to throw a party. But even more, we know how to build. We bring creativity, resilience, pride, and passion to everything we do. And we’re ready to stand with brands that stand with us, not just in September, but always.

17195: Spare Change From Stagwell…?

 

Mediapsssst spotlighted a study from Stagwell’s Harris Group and Grossman Group showing most enterprises have reached the “change tipping point”—that is, change is happening at a rate greater than the average drone can handle.

 

Not sure how the data applies to White advertising agencies, although places within the Stagwell network would likely spike the numbers higher. After all, Goldilocks is a flaming dumpster where constant changes routinely inspire mass exodus.

 

Hell, Stagwell proves that to change and to change for the better are two different things.

 

Workplace Change Making You Crazy? Join The Crowd

 

By Richard Whitman

 

A new study from Stagwell’s Harris Group and consultant Grossman Group finds that organizations are at what they call the “change tipping point,” meaning change is occurring at a rate beyond which most employees can handle it. 

 

Employees can realistically absorb only 1 or 2 major changes a year—yet business leaders surveyed for the study expect 3 to 4 big changes annually in the next couple of years, “pushing organizations past the tipping point.” 

 

AI of course is the big kahuna of change—the change that changes everything. It’s driving one-third of all strategic and process transformations, making it the top opportunity and the top challenge. 

 

Per the study, 1 of 4 major change initiatives fail. And the consequences aren’t good: Employee burnout, dissatisfaction, spiked workloads and turnover.  

 

Organizations are more than 5 times more likely to fail in implementing a big change without visible leadership and without effective communication, the study found. 

 

1 in 4 employees say their leaders do not communicate change well, while culture change and layoffs are the most difficult. 

 

But the study offers tips for implementing change successfully, including making sure that the scale of the proposed changes is manageable. Also, engaged leaders are a must, as is communicating effectively with employees why the change is necessary. Also critical: a feedback loop that tracks how employees are experiencing the changes.  

 

More from the study can be found here.

17194: Group Black Not In The Black…?

 

Adweek reported on a lawsuitpalooza involving Group Black, which will likely cost someone lots of green.

 

Inside the Dueling Lawsuits Threatening to Unravel Group Black 

 

The Black media collective once aimed to distribute $500 million in ad commitments. Now, its founders are suing one another.

 

By Mark Stenberg

 

In June 2021, three prominent Black media executives joined forces to launch Group Black, a collective that aimed to secure advertising commitments from brands and agencies and direct the spend to a portfolio of Black-owned publishers.

 

At launch, founders Richelieu Dennis, Bonin Bough, and Travis Montaque announced an initial investment of $75 million from the agency GroupM, and multimillion-dollar deals with companies including Ziff Davis and NBCUniversal soon followed. Ultimately, Group Black pledged its intent to raise and distribute $500 million in funding.

 

In its early years, the venture generated breathless press coverage—some of which came from yours truly—and enjoyed the backing of powerful brands and holding companies, thanks in equal part to its charismatic founders and the heightened climate of social activism coming out of the pandemic.

 

By 2024, the company had grown quiet. The collective had ostensibly raised hundreds of millions of dollars for a cadre of Black media outlets, but I increasingly began to hear grumblings of late payments. 

 

That summer, Montaque, the wunderkind chief executive and founder of messaging technology service Holler, quietly left Group Black.

 

Dennis, who made his fortune by selling his personal care company, Sundial Brands, to Unilever in 2017 for $1.6 billion, left the collective shortly after. He had increasingly begun to focus on building out a separate media portfolio, called Sundial Media and Technology Group, which includes publishers like Essence, Refinery29, and Afropunk, among others. 

 

The departures left Bough as the sole remaining cofounder. Then the lawsuits began.

The first, in October 2024, was filed by Essence Communications, a subsidiary of Dennis’ Sundial Media and Technology Group. It alleged that Group Black owed two of its publishers, Essence and Afropunk, $20 million in unpaid bills and had improperly used those funds to enrich Group Black and Holler, as Business Insider first reported.

 

That lawsuit has since been dismissed. But new litigation has emerged in recent months, which I was able to get my hands on and which has not been previously reported. 

 

Two new lawsuits—a lawsuit filed by Essence Communications and countersuit by Group Black—were filed in May and June of this year and are still active. Bough, Dennis, and Montaque each declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation. 

 

The documents that surfaced as a result of the litigation have shed new light on the internal drama roiling the company. They also reveal, for the first time, the complexity of the Group Black portfolio and the competing interests that are now threatening to tear it apart.

 

He said, he said

 

What both parties can agree on is that, between 2021 and 2023, Group Black arranged for Essence and Afropunk to execute millions of dollars’ worth of advertising campaigns, which they did. 

 

In the suit filed against Group Black this May, Dennis’ group makes many of the same allegations as before and claims $7 million in missed payments. It also claims that Group Black had the money to pay Essence and Afropunk, but instead used it to invest in Group Black and Holler, the messaging platform founded by Montaque.

 

In its countersuit, Group Black alleges that while it did indeed owe Essence and Afropunk $7 million, Dennis had agreed in January 2024 to convert that $7 million debt into equity in Group Black. Then, after a fallout that occurred in the summer of 2024 when Dennis left the company, he changed his mind and decided to sue for the money, the countersuit alleges.

 

Group Black cited emails that mention Carta, a software used to structure capital tables, in corroborating these claims. Indeed, turning a $7 million debt into equity would enable Group Black to invest that money back in its business, a common tactic for startups. It did invest that money, according to the countersuit, acquiring Holler in December 2023, and investing $14.5 million in the messaging platform.

 

Essence Communications denies that it agreed to convert the $7 million debt into an equity stake.

 

A tangled web

 

As you might have picked up on, much of the melodrama here stems from the entangled nature of the various businesses involved. 

 

Dennis was chairman of the board of Group Black during the time it allegedly withheld funds from Essence and Afropunk.

 

And until his resignation in 2024, Montaque was the CEO of both Group Black and Holler during the time that Dennis’ group alleges Group Black withheld funds in order to invest in Holler.

 

But in a twist, Dennis was also a significant investor in Holler. That means that—and try and keep up here—Dennis is suing Group Black, a company he cofounded and led as chairman, for alleged nonpayment to Essence and Afropunk, companies he now owns, because Group Black had allegedly used the owed funds to invest in Holler, a company in which he had invested.

 

Holler’s assets are still owned by Group Black, though the messaging platform is no longer active. Its former URL now directs to a Vietnamese streaming website.

 

An uncertain future

 

In retrospect, the commingling of these various business interests now seems like a fraught proposition. On some level, the companies simply appeared to be handing around the same dollar in a circle.  

 

This kind of financial maneuvering is not uncommon among startups, where cash is in short supply and the focus is on building something rather than turning an immediate profit. Plus, Essence, Afropunk, and Holler are the exact kind of companies that Group Black was trying to support—even if their owners happened to benefit from that support.

 

Unfortunately, in this case the tripartite management of the company, combined with each founder trying to serve both the interests of their portfolio companies and the interests of Group Black, seems to have backfired. 

 

Group Black, to its credit, is still alive and kicking. Bough is running the company now, and last month he announced the launch of Portrait, a venture with a mission similar to Group Black but with a focus on minority audiences more broadly. Group Black will now become Group Black Holdings, Bough said in a LinkedIn post. 

 

Personally, I hope that Group Black can persist. It was and is an organization with an important mission, however muddled that might have become amid this power struggle. Over the years I have spoken with dozens of Group Black employees, and down to the one they all believed in the work they were doing—a refreshing anomaly in an often disillusioned industry.

 

I know that for many in the Black media community, Group Black has been at times a polarizing organization. Some operators believed it sucked up all the oxygen in the room and then failed to execute on its core promise. But most Black media executives I’ve spoken to are conflicted on the issue: critical of its operations, but worried its failure would affect funding for other Black media companies. 

 

For the moment, the fallout from the situation is at least contained to its internal stakeholders. But if Group Black itself collapses, the blast radius of its implosion could be much wider.

 

Update: This piece has been updated to reflect that Essence Communications has denied that it agreed to convert the $7 million it was allegedly owed into equity.

17193: Trump Screams For Ice Cream Cancellation…?

 

Hey, will Ben & Jerry’s feel pressure to cancel Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream?

 

And is Jimmy Fallon next?

17192: Hims & Hers & Haphazard Hirings.

 

Oh, look! A Director of Creative Operations opportunity at Hims & Hers.

 

Um, wait a minute…