17234: Omnicom To Declare DDBuh-Bye…?

 

Adweek reported Omnicom delivered a vague response to rumors that the White holding company will erase White advertising agency brands like DDB upon completing its acquisition of IPG.

 

Online chatter included weeping and gnashing of teeth over the possible obliteration of iconic mastheads.

 

Yet such probable moves should not be surprising, as Omnicom has been a leader in orchestrating the commoditization of Adland, building a global portfolio of generic, exchangeable White advertising agencies.

 

Indeed, the White holding company deemed once-storied Goodby Silverstein & Partners equal to Fathom Communications—a shop that ultimately folded its Chicago office before folding sister offices into assorted White ad agencies within the Omnicom empire.

 

The rumors reflect reality.

 

Omnicom Responds To Rumors That It Will Sunset DDB 

 

Following unconfirmed reports that the DDB brand could be retired, Omnicom says it is still evaluating its agency structure

 

By Audrey Kemp

 

Omnicom Group has responded to reports that it plans to retire the DDB agency brand following its $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group, which is expected to close by the end of November.

 

The company did not confirm or deny the reports, but said it is evaluating its agencies ahead of the deal closing.

 

International advertising publications speculated on Wednesday that Omnicom intends to consolidate its creative operations around three global networks—BBDO, TBWA, and McCann—once the acquisition receives final regulatory approval. If accurate, the move would eliminate DDB as a standalone global brand.

 

In a statement to ADWEEK, an Omnicom spokesperson said the company is “undertaking a rigorous and considered process to ensure we have the very best solutions for the future for us and for our clients,” adding that Omnicom and IPG remain independent companies until the acquisition is finalized.

 

Consolidation underway

 

Founded in 1949 by Bill Bernbach, Ned Doyle, and Max Dane, DDB is one of Omnicom’s three main creative agency networks, alongside BBDO and TBWA.

 

DDB has already begun consolidating some of its operations. Earlier this year, the network unified its North American agencies—DDB Chicago, adam&eveDDB, and multicultural shop Alma—under newly appointed North America CEO Caroline Winterton and COO Isaac Mizrahi.

 

In 2023, DDB New York merged with adam&eveNYC under the name adam&eveDDB.

Last year, Omnicom aligned its creative networks DDB, BBDO, and TBWA, as well as agencies including Goodby Silverstein & Partners and GSD&M, under an umbrella called Omnicom Advertising Group (OAG).

 

Further streamlining Omnicom’s creative portfolio would mirror similar moves by WPP, Publicis Groupe, and Dentsu to integrate creative, media, data, and tech capabilities under fewer brands.

 

A creative legacy

 

DDB operates in more than 40 markets worldwide, and its subsidiaries, such as adam&eveDDB London, are among the most awarded in the industry. It’s unclear how those entities would be integrated if the DDB brand was retired.

 

Over the past several decades, DDB has produced celebrated work like Volkswagen’s “Think Small” and McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today.”

 

More recently, however, DDB’s creative output has faced scrutiny.

 

In June, Cannes Lions withdrew the Grand Prix awarded to DDB’s São Paulo-based agency DM9 for Whirlpool brand Consul’s “Efficient Way to Pay,” after determining the case film contained AI-manipulated footage. DM9 chief creative officer Icaro Doria stepped down, but DDB retained the Cannes Lions Network of the Year title.

 

Omnicom’s all-stock acquisition of IPG, announced in late 2024, would create the world’s largest advertising holding company by revenue, overtaking rivals Publicis and WPP. The deal is projected to generate about $750 million in cost synergies.

 

Omnicom is in the final stage of gaining regulatory approval from the European Union, the last remaining market under review.

17014: International Women’s Day & Global BS.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners celebrated International Women’s Day by gushing over performative promotional work produced for its client, Argent, featuring a film written by Jeff Goodby.

 

Okay, just to clarify, International Women’s Day was saluted by a White man who waited over three decades to grant a White woman partnership at his White advertising agency.

 

Feels like perfectly patronizing performative PR.

16762: Omnicom Puts The Con In Consolidation.

 

Campaign reported Omnicom—like other White holding companies—consolidated creative White advertising agencies under a single banner: in this case, Omnicom Advertising Group. Gee, there’s a name that screams creativity.

 

The maneuver is not surprising, as Omnicom has coordinated the consolidation and commoditization of creative services for decades. The White holding company mastered Corporate Cultural Collusion, serving a buffet of White advertising agencies to clients, often avoiding a competitive pitch. Why, Goodby Silverstein & Partners was once presented as interchangeable with Fathom Communications. The fact that Zimmerman Advertising is part of the mashup says it all.

 

In recent years, Omnicom even proceeded to consolidate office spaces.

 

Finally, Pioneer of Diversity John Wren tapped former TBWA Worldwide CEO Troy Ruhanen to serve as OAG CEO, completing the Caucasian cronyism consolidation.

 

Omnicom consolidates creative agencies globally under Omnicom Advertising Group

 

EXCLUSIVE: Led by former TBWA Worldwide CEO Troy Ruhanen, OAG aims to scale innovation and knowledge sharing across the holding company’s creative networks.

 

Omnicom on Tuesday (27 August) unveiled the Omnicom Advertising Group (OAG), a new structure that aligns its creative agencies globally under one leadership team.

 

Troy Ruhanen, formerly CEO of TBWA Worldwide, will lead OAG as CEO. Deepthi Prakash, international president and chief product officer of TBWA Worldwide, is promoted to COO of OAG, and Denis Streiff, CFO of TBWA Worldwide, is promoted to global CFO OAG.

 

OAG will oversee Omnicom creative networks including BBDO, TBWA, DDB and The Collective, which includes Goodby Silverstein & Partners, GSD&M, Merkley & Partners and Zimmerman.

 

In addition to TBWA US CEO Erin Riley, who is promoted to fill Ruhanen’s post as TBWA Worldwide CEO, Omnicom global creative agency leaders will report to OAG leadership.

 

This includes BBDO’s recently-promoted global CEO Nancy Reyes, DDB global CEO Alex Lubar and The Collective CEO James Fenton.

 

The new structure will take effect on January 1.

 

According to Ruhanen, OAG aims to bolster Omnicom’s agency brands while scaling access to tools, technology and talent that sits around the network globally.

 

“We know that certain talent are attracted to certain agency cultures, and our clients prefer to have lots of choices rather than just the one solution on offer. So, it’s really important that the agency brands are strong,” he said. “But we have the ability to use scale to our advantage.”

 

With the new structure, OAG leadership will be able to more easily identify and scale existing solutions, platforms or investments across its creative agencies and clients globally. For instance, if a team in Finland or South Africa has developed a cutting-edge platform or way of working, OAG can bring that to clients and teams around the world.

 

“There are a lot of innovations that bubble up in markets that you wouldn’t expect,” Ruhanen said. “It’s a matter of being able to identify those innovations and say, ‘OK, we really think that this is something that’s quite cutting-edge. Let’s move that around the world. Let’s start to educate people about this way of working.’”

 

OAG is a response to AI and digital transformation that has reshaped the creative industry and competitive landscape. Particularly for creative agencies, scaled access to investments in generative AI, data and other technologies is becoming a competitive advantage.

 

“It’s probably more relevant than ever to be able to benefit from our scale,” Ruhanen said.

 

Additionally, as clients seek more integrated and tailored solutions from agencies, OAG will help facilitate access to talent and teams across the network, while simultaneously providing talent with mobility across different agencies and client teams.

 

“In the past, a lot of us tended to hold on to the [talent] that we have because we were fighting for our personal brand success,” Ruhanen said. “How do we really look at getting the best talent for our clients, the best solution and collaborating together?” He pointed to his nearly nine years at BBDO and Reyes’ recent move from TBWA to BBDO as examples of Omnicom’s track record with talent mobility.

 

Omnicom does not plan to merge or sunset any agencies as part of the new structure, and will pitch solutions as OAG or as individual agencies, depending on the client’s needs. “We have far greater flexibility to be able to meet the needs of the client,” Ruhanen said.

 

The model follows a structure Omnicom has implemented in other disciplines, including Omnicom Media Group, Omnicom PR Group and Omnicom Health Group.

 

“The [creative] agency world really is—I wouldn’t say it’s the last area—but it’s close to being that,” Ruhanen said, adding that Omnicom’s creative agencies have already started to work this way behind the scenes.

 

While OAG will add leaders in specialist areas in the months to come, the intention is not to build a “holding company within a holding company,” Ruhanen said.

 

He added that he will judge his own and the group’s success by each of the individual agencies' success, and that as competitors merge agency brands and allow them to fade to the background, maintaining strong brands and cultures is a competitive advantage.

 

“This doesn’t come at the sacrifice of the agency brands,” he said. “It’s there to help them.”

16737: IPG Braking & Breaking Commonwealth/McCann.

 

Advertising Age reported IPG White advertising agency Commonwealth/McCann in Detroit is executing layoffs—up to 56 employees—resulting from the recent General Motors decision to roll with new White advertising agencies based outside of the Midwest region.

 

The shop originally launched in early 2012 as a joint venture between White advertising agencies from different White holding companies—Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners and IPG’s McCann. The honeymoon didn’t last long, as GM drove Chevy business from GS&P to Leo Burnett months later, prompted by shifting CMOs at the automaker. The latest GM maneuver, incidentally, was also accelerated by a new CMO.

 

It all just goes to show that White holding companies, White advertising agencies, White car companies, and White CMOs create total wrecks that injure lots of White people. Indeed, GM appears to have an assembly line churning out Mark LaNeve models as crummy as the produced vehicles.

 

In short, it’s common chaos—and the wealth is rarely shared with common workers.

15979: NBA Signs White Advertising Agency To Play In UK.

 

Campaign reported that the NBA awarded a creative contract to Saatchi & Saatchi London to grow its footprint in the European region. Wonder how NBA players would react upon learning that a White advertising agency is now hyping the league.

 

Granted, the assignment is targeting audiences in Europe. But still. White advertising agencies in the U.K. mirror the same failings with diversity as U.S. counterparts.

 

Did Majority Agency—co-founded by Shaquille O’Neal—get a shot in the pitch competition? Maybe it would have been a conflict of interest, as O’Neal is a professional sports commentator. Or perhaps his experience and expertise would lead to extraordinary concepts.

 

Also, did Goodby Silverstein & Partners whine about the final score?

15666: Where Are All The Black Insurrectionists?

 

Advertising Age spotlighted a campaign from Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Courageous Conversation Global Foundation that considers the insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol and asks, “What if they were Black?”

 

Imagine if the same question were applied to GS&P. That is, what if Goodby Silverstein & Partners were Black?

 

For starters, they would never have received all the business and professional opportunities that their White privilege has allowed them to enjoy. Why, their most iconic campaign would probably have been for malt liquor.

 

(Bonus points to blog visitors who get the headline for this post—as well as anyone who makes a donation to Courageous Conversation Global Foundation.)

 

 

Campaign Portrays Capitol Insurrectionists As Black One Year After The Riot

 

GS&P’s push for Courageous Conversation Global Foundation uses thought-provoking T-shirts to ask what if last January’s rioters were Black

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

Goodby Silverstein & Partners is launching a campaign on the one-year anniversary of the day that insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol, flipping the script on that polarizing moment in history and posing the question: “What if they were Black?”

 

The campaign, budgeted at less than $50,000, was created on behalf of Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving racial equity in the country. The campaign is focused on a limited collection of air brush-style memorial shirts, created by artists Timothy Bluitt Jr. and Cassandra Burrell, that reimagine several white rioters present on Jan. 6, 2021 as Black.

 

On the back of each shirt is a different statistic that highlights bias within the justice system, including the fact that Black men are three times more likely to be killed by police, that one-third of unarmed people killed by police are Black and that Black people are five times more likely to be imprisoned.

 

The shirts will debut through a catalog-style Instagram campaign that features them being worn around the Capitol and throughout Washington D.C. The images will encourage people to purchase shirts or hoodies, which retail at $37 and $38 respectively, through a website created for the campaign. A portion of the proceeds will go to the fund.

 

Context clues

 

According to Anthony O’Neill, creative director at GS&P, the goal is to create a conversation with as many people as possible.

 

“When we started working on this thing, no one had been charged,” O’Neill said. “The stats on the back of the shirts really force the point we’re trying to make. We’re not just saying if they were Black they’d be dead. We’re saying even with a routine traffic stop, for example, there are two Americas. I think wherever you were on that day, you probably asked the question in the back of your mind, ‘What if they were Black?’ and hopefully that creates a conversation.”

 

The Black people shown on the clothes don’t share a physical likeness with the rioters that are referenced, but using context clues the audience can discern who they are being compared to.

 

One shirt showcases a Black person dressed as Jacob Chansley, who was one of the main faces of the riot, sporting red, white and blue paint on his face along with a fur hat with horns. In November, Chansley, who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” was sentenced to 41 months in prison for the role he played in the event.

 

Without mentioning Chansley by name, one of the social media images addresses him. The image includes a statement that reads: “After rioters broke into the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, some entered the Senate floor—one of whom, dressed as a Viking, did so while carrying a speared flagpole, which many saw as a weapon. For his actions, he’s been sentenced to only 41 months in prison after pleading guilty on just one felony count—essentially, a slap on the wrist. If he were Black, would he have been shot before he made it to the Capitol steps?”

 

It was important to have the artwork displayed on shirts—some of which are referred to as “RIP shirts”—since it is a typical medium used for mourning in the Black community, said Wes Dorsainvil, associate creative director for GS&P.

 

“The question itself is thought-provoking,” Dorsainvil said. “As a team, we all had that same moment of reflecting on that question and how we communicate our emotions and reactions. The T-shirts just came from discussions about ways that as the Black community, we express a lot of the things we experience through art and language. The T-shirt and the RIP motif came out of a discussion about how do we mourn people who died.”

 

The campaign will also feature a TikTok series titled #IfTheyWereBlackChallenge, in which TikTok creators detail what would have happened if Black people had stormed the Capitol, using the popular heaven background green-screen feature. Additional social content includes a live Twitter Spaces conversation and an Instagram AMA to spark conversation around the question “What if they were Black” and the bias that the world witnessed.

 

This isn’t the first work the agency has created for Courageous Conversation Global Foundation. In February 2020, the agency launched its “Not a Gun” campaign, which was an effort that illustrated the unfair difference in how a white person and Black person could be perceived in an everyday situation, leading to dire life-altering consequences for the latter. On Juneteenth of 2020, the agency launched its “Being Black is Not a Crime” campaign for the group and in July of this year the agency created its “400 Years Flag Half-Staff” campaign dedicated to passing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act.

15587: The Academy Is, Well, An Academic Affair.

 

Advertising Age reported on The Academy, a “new” advertising school from Goodby Silverstein & Partners that feels deceptively like an old heat shield. While the story hyped the alleged attempt to create a breakthrough enterprise, a closer look shows the White advertising agency is regurgitating a standard diversity ploy: educate kids of color. Sorry, but fabricating a racial and ethnic pipeline is usually a pipe dream. The tuition-free angle probably translates to a tax break for GS&P. Not surprisingly, the guys behind The Academy appear to be White men—including a ≈20-year advertising school veteran. One guy described the other’s contributions to the scheme as “100 pounds of gasoline thrown on a match.” Um, somebody explain to the co-genius that gas isn’t measured in weight.

 

Oh, and students will be tutored in San Francisco versus Sweden.

 

Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ New Advertising School Aims to Fix Industry Problems

 

The Academy at GS&P is now accepting applications for the class of 2022

 

By Parker Herren

 

Zach Canfield, director of talent at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, has been visiting advertising programs for nearly a quarter of a century. For many years, his school visits were done in the company of other agency recruiters, but he’s noticed a shift recently. Now, not only are agencies reaching out directly to students, but in-house brand teams have joined the recruitment rush.

 

“There’s a lot more people and, frankly, there aren’t a lot more students at the schools,” Canfield said. “You could see that the well was drying up a little bit.”

 

That’s why, for the last two and a half years, he’s been developing The Academy at GS&P, a year-long, tuition-free, in-house school to train the next generation of marketers. Hosted at the GS&P headquarters in San Francisco, The Academy will train young people and marketing newcomers the basics of advertising, without the fluff.

 

“We’ve done an incredible amount of surveys and data and digging on people who graduated from school,” Canfield said. “Asking them what were the most important classes they took? What were the classes that weren’t a good use of their time? What do they wish they had learned more of in school? What were they not prepared for?”

 

On top of teaching copywriters how to write and designers how to use Adobe, the program is able to offer students access to GS&P’s roster of creatives and facilities. Students will have access to the agency’s motion animation group, musicians and editors, as well as classes taught by agency partners Rich Silverstein, Jeff Goodby, Margaret Johnson and a host of guests. Plus, Dan Balser has stepped in as the school’s director, after nearly two decades at the Creative Circus, a two-year ad school in Atlanta.

 

Canfield describes Balser’s contributions to the program as “100 pounds of gasoline thrown on a match.” In addition to a decade on the creative side at agencies like Ogilvy and Publicis, Balser has spent the past 18 years as a program director at the Creative Circus, mentoring nearly 2,000 marketers who have gone on to top-tier gigs at agencies like Droga5, TBWA\Chiat\Day, BBDO New York and GS&P.

 

“The opportunity here is an agency that’s committed to doing this in a way that allows us to meet the students where they are, meet the agency where they are and the industry where it is,” Balser said. “So, it’s an opportunity to redefine what a junior or student portfolio looks like, to really look towards the present and the future versus looking at the way things have always been done. It’s a thrilling opportunity to be able to do that.”

 

But the team isn’t just trying to build portfolios for a small cohort of future ad workers — it’s trying to repair a tear they see in the industry. As agencies and clients recognize the need to give voice to representation, marketing schools aren’t keeping up with the demands of the industry, according to Canfield. The Academy at GS&P is what he and Balser hope is the beginning of an abundance of accessible learning opportunities for creatives from other big agencies.

 

Balser recalled his days working for Fuji Film and described how not a single company meeting passed without mention of its rival, Kodak. He says the same mindset is present in advertising schools: competitive scorn for peers. Balser and Canfield want the opposite for their new wave of training.

 

“We want to change education. I want more schools like [The Academy] to happen. I think this is a model of what the future of advertising education should look like,” Balser said. “To me, honestly, this is the beginning of an evolution."

 

Canfield added that “the school is our little attempt at trying to help make the industry better.”

 

Applications for The Academy at GS&P are available now on the program’s website. The school will open its doors to its first class in February 2022.

 

15143: GS&P&Equity&Diversity&Inclusion&Bullshit.

 

Adweek reported White advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners named Jennifer Gomes as Head of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Of course they did.