Norlop VML in Ecuador is responsible for this White Energy stunt explained as follows:
White Energy is the first initiative that transforms a stadium’s emotion into real energy. During Liga de Quito’s Noche Blanca, we captured the fans’ chants and vibrations, converted them into clean kWh, and stored them in four Chery EQ7 vehicles. With that energy, we lit up the stadium for the first time in history.
Hey, the agency could’ve converted the White energy at VML to light up the entire country.
MediaPost reported IPG was officially delisted by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after being acquired by Omnicom.
Next, expect thousands of redundant drones to be delisted from the rosters of White advertising agencies within the expanded Omnicom empire.
After A Half Century ‘IPG’ Is Delisted
By Joe Mandese
After more than half a century of trading under the “IPG” ticker symbol, the Interpublic Group of Companies has officially been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Following the closing of its acquisition by Omnicom earlier this week, the consolidated company will continue to trade as “OMC” on the NYSE.
Omnicom was a relatively late entry to public trading, launching its IPO in 1986—15 years after IPG—following the “big bang” merger of BBDO, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper Steers that formed Omnicom.
Papert Koenig Lois (“PKL”) was the first U.S. agency to go public in 1962.
A year later, Foote, Cone & Belding went public, sparking a wave of major agency public offerings, including Doyle Dane Bernbach (1964), Grey Advertising (1965), J. Walter Thompson (1969), and Interpublic (1971), which ultimately led to the public market capitalization that fueled the merger and acquisition activity that created the modern day agency holding companies.
The Associated Press reported on the disproportionate unemployment challenges experienced by US Black women.
Can’t help but wonder how worse things are for all the Dawn Chambers in Adland, who have historically been underutilized, underpaid, and underrepresented—a situation compounded by the anti-DEIBA+ vibe impacting the industry and society at large.
As Black women face unemployment challenges, a roundtable of policymakers searches for solutions
By Matt Brown
In a packed room at library in a downtown Boston, Rep. Ayanna Pressley posed a blunt question: Why are Black women, who have some of the highest labor force participation rates in the country, now seeing their unemployment rise faster than most other groups?
The replies Monday from policymakers, academics, business owners and community organizers laid out how economic headwinds facing Black women may indicate a troubling shift for the economy at large.
The unemployment rate for Black women increased from 6.7% to 7.5% between August and September this year, the most recent month for available data because of the federal government shutdown.
That compares with a 3.2% to 3.4% increase for white women over the same period. And it extended a year-long trend of the Black women’s unemployment rate increasing at a time of broad economic uncertainty.
Many roundtable attendees view those numbers as both an affront and a warning about the uneven pressures on Black women.
“Everyone is missing out when we’re pushed out of the workforce,” said Pressley, a progressive Democrat. “That is something that I worry about now, that you have all these women with specific expertise and specializations that we’re being deprived of.”
And when Black women do have work, she said they tend to be “woefully underemployed.”
Black women had the highest labor force participation rate of any female demographic in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, yet their unemployment rate remains higher than other demographics of women.
Historically, their unemployment rate has trended slightly above the national average, widening during periods of slowed economic growth or recession. Black Americans are overrepresented in industries like retail, health and social services, and government administration, according to a 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics Survey.
“Black women are at the center of the Venn diagram that is our society,” said Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, a PhD candidate in public policy and economics at the Harvard Kennedy School.
She pointed to April as the month when Black women’s unemployment began to diverge more sharply from other groups. A policy agenda that ignores the causes, she said, could harm the broader economy.
Roundtable participants cited many long-standing structural inequities but attributed most of the latest divergence to recent federal actions. They blamed the Trump administration’s downsizing of the Minority Business Development Agency and the cancellation of some federal contracts with non-profits and small businesses, saying those actions disproportionately impacted Black women. Others said tariff policies and mass federal layoffs also contributed to the strain.
The administration’s opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives was repeatedly mentioned by participants as a cause for a more hostile environment for Black women to find employment, customers or government contracting.
There is no concrete data on how many Black federal workers were laid off, fired or otherwise dismissed as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping cuts through the federal government.
The attendees discussed a wide range of potential solutions to the unemployment rate for Black women, including using state budgets to bolster business development for Black women, expanding microloans to different communities, increasing government resources for contracting, requiring greater transparency on corporate hiring practices and encouraging state and federal officials to enforce anti-discrimination policies.
“I feel like I was just at church,” said Ruthzee Louijeune, the Boston City Council president, as the meeting wrapped up. She encouraged attendees to keep up their efforts, and she defended DEI policies as essential to a healthy workforce and political system. Without broad-based efforts, the Democrat said, the country’s business and political leadership would be “abnormal” and weakened.
“Any space that does not look like our country and like our cities is not normal,” she said, “and not the city or country we are trying to build.”
Adweek reported on Omnicommoditization—that is, Omnicom closed its acquisition of IPG to create the largest White holding company and extend the commoditization of Adland.
Omnicom Chairman, CEO, and Pioneer of Diversity John Wren declared, “This is a defining moment for our company and our industry.”
The defining truly begins by identifying redundancies and executing reductions in force.
Starting on Thanksgiving, Wren will proceed to carve up the biggest turkey ever—with plenty of White meat.
Happy Holidays!
Omnicom Closes $13B IPG Deal, Uniting Rivals in Industry-Shaping Acquisition
The unprecedented consolidation of Madison Avenue giants creates the largest advertising group in the world
By Audrey Kemp
Nearly a year after announcing the deal, Omnicom has officially closed its $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group, creating the world’s largest advertising and marketing holding company by revenue and billings.
Under the all-stock agreement, Omnicom shareholders will own 60.6% of the combined company’s stock, and IPG shareholders 39.4%. Combined, the companies posted an estimated $26 billion in annual revenue in 2024.
John Wren will remain chairman and CEO of the company, while Phil Angelastro stays on as evp and CFO, and former IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky and Daryl Simm will serve as co-presidents and COOs.
“This is a defining moment for our company and our industry,” said John Wren, Chairman and CEO of Omnicom, in a statement. “With the completion of the deal, Omnicom is setting a new standard for modern marketing and sales leadership—creating stronger brands, delivering superior business outcomes, and driving sustainable growth. We’re excited about this next chapter. I want to thank our people, clients, and shareholders for the trust they have placed in us.”
First announced in December 2024, the acquisition cleared its last regulatory hurdle earlier this week when the European Commission granted approval. The EU’s decision came two months after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission cleared way for the deal to close in September, with a consent decree prohibiting Omnicom from directing advertiser spend based on political or ideological preferences.
The combination of two rival holdcos will remap the global agency landscape. The closest historical precedent was the proposed 2013 merger between Publicis and Omnicom, which ultimately collapsed over leadership disagreements.
By acquiring IPG, Omnicom is scaling up on data and technology to better serve its enterprise clients across the marketing funnel and compete in a consolidating media landscape. It’s a shift has already pushed rival holding companies to simplify and invest in data and tech over the past decade.
Omnicom has projected $750 million in cost synergies as a result of the combination. To get there, so far, IPG has eliminated 3,200 jobs since January, Omnicom culled 3,000 jobs at the end of last year.
CEO John Wren has emphasized that Omnicom is working to keep client-facing teams intact, while back-office roles are more likely to be affected.
As the new Omnicom takes shape, it will have to carefully navigate new client conflicts. It now works with fierce rivals across categories, such as AT&T and T-Mobile in telco, or State Farm and GEICO in insurance.
Careful change management will also be key, as it is widely expected that not all of the agencies will survive under their new parent. Last month, reports circulated that Omnicom will eliminate its global DDB network; in November, global CEO Alex Lubar left the agency without plans to backfill his role.
Oh, look! Another contrived environmental protection campaign starring victimized sea turtles. Somebody should’ve tossed it in the initial concept stage.
Adweek reported former WPP CEO Mark Read landed as Chairman of the freshly fabricated Board of Directors at Kantar Media.
The Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital—which bought Kantar Media in August— gushed, “Mark’s appointment underscores our commitment to backing Kantar Media with exceptional leadership. … His deep industry knowledge and proven track record in driving transformation and innovation will be invaluable as [Kantar Media CEO Patrick Béhar] and his team take the company into its next phase of growth.”
Proven track record in driving transformation and innovation?! Um, Read arguably proved adept at driving WPP off the track—creating a fiery car wreck.
Mark Read Lands First Post-WPP Role as Kantar Media Chairman
The former WPP chief will lead Kantar Media’s newly independent board.
By Audrey Kemp
Mark Read has landed his next role after stepping down as CEO of WPP: Chairman of the newly formed board of directors at Kantar Media.
It’s his first post since ending a 30-year run at WPP, which included seven years as CEO, as well as leadership roles at Wunderman and WPP Digital. His move to Kantar comes less than three months after Cindy Rose was installed as WPP’s new CEO in September, though he is set to stay on as an advisor to the holding company through the end of the year.
In a statement, Read said he was looking forward to joining Kantar in its mission to bring “greater clarity to the media ecosystem at a time when audience behavior is changing more rapidly than ever.”
“Kantar Media serves a unique and essential role in the media ecosystem: helping advertisers, agencies, media owners, and platforms understand how people are consuming media and how best to direct their media investments,” he said.
Patrick Béhar, CEO of Kantar Media, noted Read’s combination of “deep strategic thinking” and “practical experience in transformation, data, and AI,” as key to his selection. “Most importantly, he shares our ambition to transform the industry by bringing clarity to a complex landscape,” he said in a statement.
The appointment comes after Kantar Media was sold by Kantar Group and Bain Capital to H.I.G. Capital for a reported $1 billion in August, leading it to form its first fully independent board.
“Mark’s appointment underscores our commitment to backing Kantar Media with exceptional leadership,” Nishant Nayyar, managing director at H.I.G., said in a statement. “His deep industry knowledge and proven track record in driving transformation and innovation will be invaluable as Patrick and his team take the company into its next phase of growth.”
MediaPost reported the Omnicom acquisition of IPG received EU approval, and the trade publication later stated the acquiring White holding company expects to close the deal by Wednesday.
For privileged leaders, expect flowing champagne, colorful celebrations, and proclamations on the impressive union of global powerhouses.
For average drones, expect flowing bullshit, clumsy calibrations, and pink slips for immediate separation from the global outhouses.
The soon-to-be biggest White holding company is about to define who’s important and who’s not.
Final Hurdle: EU Grants Omnicom-IPG Unconditional Approval
By Steve McClellan
The European Union’s regulatory body, The European Commission, announced over the weekend that it has approved unconditionally the proposed acquisition of Interpublic Group by Omnicom.
The EU was the last regional market that the two holding companies needed approval from before completing the transaction.
In its announcement, The Commission concluded that the merger would “raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).”
Based on its investigation, the Commission found that the merged company would hold “moderate market positions” in advertising and media buying services within the EU and globally and that the merged entity would be “sufficiently constrained by the presence of several competitors, including large international advertising groups with a global reach, such as WPP, Dentsu-Aegis, Publicis and Havas.”
The EC statement added that “Should the merged entity try to use its position on the market for the provision of [media buying services] to increase its negotiating power with media owners, the latter would maintain sufficient countervailing power due to the significant degree of concentration of media owners in the relevant European countries.”
The EC began its investigation in May. The Federal Trade Commission gave its final decision in September with significant restrictions including on the company’s ability to take publishers' content into account when purchasing ad inventory.
There was no immediate comment from Omnicom on the approval although the company has said it expects to complete the transaction by the end of this month.
Interpublic Group (IPG) was named Holding Company of the Year—the second consecutive win for the White holding company—in The Drum Awards Festival 2025.
Um, is the honor equivalent to President Donald J. Trump, Adolf Hitler, and various notorious figures being named Time Person of the Year?
After all, IPG spent the past 12 months pruning White advertising agencies and cutting over 3,200 people, ultimately setting the stage for acquisition by Omnicom.
Provided the Omnicom-IPG scheme finally closes, the iconic acronym might not even exist in 2026.
Enjoy it while you can, IPG.
This ADWEAK post makes light of a real issue: the deluge of pharmaceutical commercials on news channels—and all channels.
It’s one of the few issues where two elderly men—President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—might be right in their position to ban such advertising.
The Associated Press published content with the following headline: Layoffs are piling up, raising worker anxiety. Here are some companies that have cut jobs recently
The report was illustrated with the image above, depicting the downsizing corporations.
Such layoffs are bound to impact White advertising agencies already being adversely affected by the merger maneuvers of White holding companies.
It also means displaced advertising drones will be unable to secure backup jobs with places like Amazon and Target—and they’ll be unable to afford shopping there too.
Worth noting—The list includes Microsoft and states:
In May, Microsoft began laying off about 6,000 workers across its workforce. And just months later, the tech giant said it would be cutting 9,000 positions—marking its biggest round of layoffs seen in more than two years. The company has cited “organizational changes,” but the labor reductions also arrive as the company spends heavily on AI.
WPP CEO Cindy Rose hails from Microsoft, so she clearly has RIF experience that can be applied to the beleaguered White holding company.
Advertising Age published the monthly employment report for US advertising, public relations, and related services—and here’s the topline summary:
U.S. employment in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) classification of advertising, PR and related services declined to 494,600 jobs in September based on seasonally adjusted figures, a loss of 800 jobs.
Agency employment could face more challenges after Omnicom Group completes its acquisition of rival Interpublic Group of Cos. in the coming weeks. Omnicom is expected to reduce staffing for the combined company as it pursues cost reductions that it has promised Wall Street.
Campaign published a perspective on WPP hiring McKinsey to handle the strategic review WPP CEO Cindy Rose announced would happen when she took the top job in September.
It’s not the first time a White advertising enterprise has enlisted consultants to survey the situation and propose plans for progress.
Yet, what’s the point? Adland firms have historically done a lousy job of self-promotion. The branding experts don’t know how to brand themselves.
A reputation was earned—and new business acquired—based on the produced work.
And that’s the challenge facing every place associated with a holding company today.
WPP is a key contributor to the commoditization of the global industry, whereby talent, services, and practices became generic, interchangeable, and replaceable.
No White holding company or White advertising agency presents essential, original, or unique offerings.
Anything McKinsey might contend to the contrary qualifies as old-school hucksterism.
That Rose doesn’t already realize this speaks volumes about her true qualifications.
WPP’s McKinsey moment might be its smartest decision in a decade
While
critics mock WPP for outsourcing its own transformation, marketing advisor Ivan
Fernandes argues it reframes the narrative from a company ‘lost in
transformation’ to openly rebuilding in full public view.
By Ivan Fernandes
When WPP confirmed it had hired McKinsey to advise on its next phase of transformation, the reaction was predictable.
Inside the industry, the move raised eyebrows. Outside it, people rolled them. “One of the world’s biggest marketing groups needs consultants to tell it how to market itself?”
The irony is irresistible, but the cynicism misses the point.
I don’t view WPP’s decision to bring in McKinsey as an act of desperation, but that of self-awareness. In a business that still treats vulnerability as weakness, that might be the boldest move the company has made in years.
For more than a decade, WPP’s story has been one of constant reinvention. It built the playbook on “integration” long before the word became fashionable, where it restructured and rebranded, often simultaneously. Yet, despite the effort, the narrative hasn’t kept up with the market. The holding company model built on acquisition and aggregation was designed for a pre-platform world, and now it's fighting to operate in one where clients move faster, margins are thinner, and differentiation is harder to see.
Transformation fatigue has set in and that's the simple truth. Rather than launching another internal programme of change, it has done the smarter thing of admitting that internal fixes are no longer enough. In my view, that’s maturity.
Choosing McKinsey was deliberate. The consultancy doesn’t do storytelling or slogans but deals in systems, processes and frameworks, and the kind that can bring order to sprawling and complex organisations. For WPP, that’s where the real work needs to happen. Not in creative output, but in how WPP runs.
And this move will signal to investors that WPP is serious about operational discipline and tell clients that the company recognises efficiency and integration are competitive necessities. It tells employees that leadership is ready to bring in external accountability, not just internal optimism.
It’s a clever, subtle and crucial way of reframing the narrative from ‘WPP is lost’ to ‘WPP is rebuilding.’
McKinsey wins time and credibility
Cindy Rose, who became CEO this year, faces the same structural pressures her predecessors did, such as shrinking margins and restless shareholders. She also needs to tackle growing competition from consultancies and PE-backed agency networks, in addition to collectives and independents.
Bringing in McKinsey buys her the one commodity she doesn’t have: time.
McKinsey’s methodology (diagnose, recommend and reform) will create a rhythm that calms markets where investors see activity, employees see a plan, and clients see leadership willing to evolve.
For me, what stands out is the announcement itself. Many companies would have buried this partnership under corporate euphemisms like ‘operational realignment,’ but WPP didn’t. And that transparency will also signal confidence. It suggests a leadership team willing to confront challenges in public, rather than hide them behind management language. And the ad industry is built on perception, so this openness can only add to their advantage.
Of course, McKinsey is only the start. The well-crafted McKinsey slides will not fix companies, and the real test will be execution. Everyone knows what the recommendations will say: simplify the structure, empower local teams, strengthen data and technology infrastructure, and align incentives to growth. The difference lies in whether WPP can make those recommendations stick.
If it can do that, this moment won’t be remembered as an outsourcing strategy, and it’ll be remembered as reclaiming direction.
WPP’s decision is bigger than one company. It mirrors where the entire industry stands. Every holding company faces the same tension between legacy and reinvention.
Every network is wrestling with structures that no longer align with how clients buy services or value creativity.
By publicly admitting that it needs outside help, WPP has done something rare: it’s told the truth. And in doing so, it’s permitted the rest of the industry to confront its own reality that the old model isn’t broken because of a lack of ideas but structural clarity.
