14764: Reports Claim We Are Unlimited Are Soon To Be DDB.

AgencySpy posted that Business Insider reported We Are Unlimited—or whatever is left of the White advertising agency—will be absorbed by DDB. If any minorities come with We Are Unlimited, Wendy Clark will probably count it as a diversity boost for the DDB franchise. Look for We Are Unlimited to soon pick up AOR duties on Propel.

Report: We Are Unlimited Will Be Folded Into DDB Chicago After McDonald’s Taps W+K

By Erik Oster

Less than a week after McDonald’s announced its new U.S. lead creative agency would be Wieden + Kennedy New York, it appears the once-dedicated agency Omnicom had created to service the chain will no longer stand on its own.

Citing anonymous sources, Business Insider today reported that We Are Unlimited will be folded into DDB Chicago at the beginning of next year. Sources told the publication that We Are Unlimited will retain its name but operate as part of DDB Chicago, while continuing to work on marketing for aspects of the McDonald’s business, including promoting the Happy Meal.

For now, DDB isn’t commenting, but the move certainly wouldn’t be the year’s most surprising. McDonald’s spent months undergoing a review of its U.S. agency model, with W+K New York eventually coming out as the big winner.

We Are Unlimited already had a round of layoffs earlier this month, attributed to changes to the McDonald’s account.

The move comes a week after McDonald’s selected W+K New York as its new U.S. lead creative agency, following a review of its U.S. agency model. It also follows a round of layoffs earlier this month attributed to changes to the account.

We Are Unlimited was created in 2016 after McDonald’s consolidated its creative account with Omnicom, ending its relationship with Publicis Groupe. The agency’s exclusive relationship with McDonald’s ended at the start of 2019 and the brand turned to TBWA/Chiat/Day to promote its McCafé house coffee line around a year ago, following a review limited to Omnicom agencies, which reportedly included We Are Unlimited.

Minda Smiley contributed reporting to this story.

13634: McChange Is Good.

Advertising Age reported Mickey D’s replaced top executives including McDonald’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl, who now won’t be around to experience the awesome power of We Are Unlimited. The Omnicom-fabricated “Agency of the Future” probably isn’t worried, despite having produced the worst campaign in the fast feeder’s recent history. After all, Wahl’s replacement—Morgan Flatley—comes from PepsiCo, which has obsessive ties to the holding company. Hell, We Are Unlimited will likely pick up the Propel Zero account before long.

Wahl Out as McDonald’s U.S. CMO, Replaced by PepsiCo’s Flatley

By Jessica Wohl

McDonald’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl and two other U.S. executives are being replaced at the Golden Arches, with PepsiCo’s Morgan Flatley being named to the top U.S. marketer spot. Ms. Wahl is out after three years at McDonald’s. She joined in 2014.

The changes, announced Tuesday night, come after Chris Kempczinski was promoted to president of McDonald’s U.S., effective Jan. 1. Along with the U.S. CMO shakeup, Farhan Siddiqi was promoted to the role of head of U.S. digital and Starbucks VP Linda VanGosen is being brought in as McDonald’s head of U.S. menu. All three are set to begin their new roles this month, McDonald’s said.

Ms. Wahl, who helped the chain bounce back from a prolonged sales slump with marketing for All Day Breakfast, also led the selection and creation of a new dedicated creative agency for McDonald’s U.S. business, We Are Unlimited, last year. She could not be immediately reached for comment.

Ms. Flatley, who had been chief marketing officer for PepsiCo-owned Gatorade and Propel, in late summer took on a new role of CMO for the global nutrition group and senior VP-global grains. She had been in various roles at PepsiCo over more than a decade and is most closely associated with her work on the Gatorade business. Before joining PepsiCo, Ms. Flatley handled work on Tide and Tylenol while at Saatchi & Saatchi.

“This is an exciting time for McDonald’s as we continue to raise the bar on how we prepare and source our food, offer our customers more modern experiences and redefine convenience through new initiatives like delivery and mobile ordering and pay,” Mr. Kempczinski said in a statement. “I am confident these new team members will help McDonald’s only accelerate the already great progress we have made in the U.S.”

Ms. Flatley takes over as McDonald’s top U.S. marketing executive at a critical time. McDonald’s, which recently said it would use fresh beef to prepare its signature Quarter Pounder sandwich in most restaurants, needs to find ways to attract customers and hold onto them. Other changes it is making include plans to introduce mobile order and pay nationwide later this year. Such tweaks come as comparable guest counts, or the number of transactions at longstanding restaurants, have fallen for four years in a row. And U.S. same-store sales fell 1.3% in the fourth quarter after four consecutive quarters of growth, which had stemmed in large part from the introduction of All Day Breakfast.

“We want to thank Morgan for her many contributions to PepsiCo over the years,” PepsiCo said of Ms. Flatley. “PepsiCo is renowned for developing a deep bench of talent, not only within our company, but within the industry as a whole, and Morgan’s appointment at McDonald’s continues that tradition.”

Mr. Siddiqi is the only one of the three executives appointed Tuesday who has been at McDonald’s. He joined the Golden Arches in 2016 and was VP-global digital experience, overseeing digital areas including global product strategy, design, innovation and business development. Now, he will add responsibility “for delivering and managing digital solutions for the U.S. that increase customer engagement and drive sales through digital channels,” McDonald’s said.

Ms. VanGosen joined Starbucks in 2014 and was its VP overseeing Starbucks Evenings, that chain’s effort to enhance the experience at its stores in later hours including with wine and beer at some locations. Prior to Starbucks, she was VP of brand strategy, insights and menu innovation at TGI Friday’s and was VP of product innovation at Chili’s Grill & Bar.

Along with the departure of Ms. Wahl, McDonald’s said U.S. digital VP Julia Vander Ploeg and menu VP Lance Richards are leaving the company.

The U.S. overhaul comes less than two weeks after McDonald’s brought in Mondelez International Inc.’s Bob Rupczynski in the newly created role of global VP-media and customer relationship management. He reports to McDonald’s Exec VP and Global CMO Silvia Lagnado.

Contributing: E.J. Schultz

11510: Omnicom Is Not Changing.

Advertising Age reported Omnicom President and CEO John Wren declared in reference to the upcoming merger with Publicis Groupe, “There are no plans to merge individual agency brands.” Plus, Wren stressed the importance of “having an agency that has its own unique identity and culture.” These statements are hardly surprising, as Wren undoubtedly intends to continue shifting accounts to sister agencies within the network whenever a major client expresses unhappiness. Why, there will soon be an even wider selection of shops to handle Quaker Oats and Propel Zero. Having things any other way would simply be unfathomable.

Omnicom CEO John Wren: ‘No Plans to Merge Individual Agency Brands’

Company Optimistic That Massive Tie-Up With Paris-Based Publicis Groupe Will Close in Early 2014

By Rupal Parekh

Omnicom CEO John Wren on Tuesday—while speaking to shareholders and analysts about the company’s third quarter results—said its merger with Publicis Groupe is on track to close in early 2014.

“It is going well,” Mr. Wren said, noting that the approval process—whereby regulators in different markets are scrutinizing any antitrust issues—is underway in more than 40 countries. So far, South Korea and South Africa are the only markets to rubber-stamp the deal. “As we clear major hurdles, as we go through this, we will inform the public” Mr. Wren said.

“There’s an integration process that [Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy] and I and our management team have agreed to,” which is focused on “the most sensible, profitable, thing to do in the priority we should act once the deal is approved.” Mr. Wren added that the two companies are preparing to meet to discuss those integration plans this month (a reference to the news Ad Age broke of a quiet gathering of key leaders from Publicis and Omnicom that will take place at the Four Seasons hotel in Miami).

During the call, Mr. Wren spent a significant amount of time touting the benefits of Publicis Omnicom for employees, and a bit less on the impact on clients. “There is no group that can possibly offer better career prospects,” he said, claiming that in speaking to some employees, he’s found that “there’s an air of excitement about the merger and a clear sense of the opportunities it creates.”

Still, many employees are likely fearing for their jobs in the run-up to the merger’s approval since deals between similar firms often lead to the elimination of redundant positions. Clients too are probably nervous that such decisions could disrupt their business.

To try to allay their fears, Mr. Wren stressed that as the two firms merge, “we will continue to deliver the work and service they are used to.” Perhaps most surprisingly, he said: “There are no plans to merge individual agency brands.” Instead, he emphasized the benefits of maintaining distinct agency brands at Publicis Groupe and Omnicom. “Having an agency that has its own unique identity and culture” is important, he said. He later went on to suggest that cost savings and efficiencies will be derived more from real estate and third-party costs like auditors.

Of course, saying there are ‘no plans’ to merge agencies doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t happen. It’s hard to imagine that in combining two corporations that have similar types of assets that management won’t try to find some synergies and align businesses. Though Publicis is stronger in digital and Omnicom is stronger in CRM and public relations, both have an array of creative networks and media agencies that offer similiar services in the same geographies.

Omnicom’s worldwide revenue in the third quarter of 2013 increased 2.5% to $3.49 billion from $3.4 billion in the same period last year. Domestic revenue in the quarter was up 3.2% to $1.82 billion compared with $1.76 billion in the third quarter of 2012. From an organic growth perspective, the U.S. and U.K. were strong, but the Eurozone is still a challenge, the company said.

It also noted that it took a $28 million pre-tax charge, which it described as being in relation to the proposed merger with Publicis Groupe announced in late July, but didn’t give any further color.

10627: Omnicom Coordinates Crap.

Advertising Age reported Omnicom President and CEO John Wren stressed the importance of coordination between agencies. Ad Age stated:

“Collaboration and coordination across agencies is even more important today,” said Mr. Wren, as many [clients] are seeking to slash marketing budgets. The approach is helping Omnicom retain and grow business organically, or, as he put it, clients are “expanding our mandates and awarding us new pieces of business.”

Um, is that Old White Guys’ code for explaining Corporate Cultural Collusion? Omnicom has “won” far more business via shifting accounts between sister agencies than the other holding companies combined. Has any Omnicom shop not worked on Quaker Oats or Propel Zero? Collaboration and coordination have created commoditization, turning Omnicom into a generic collection of culturally clueless corporate cesspools.

Omnicom’s Wren: Coordination Across Agencies ‘More Important than Ever’

On Earnings Call, CEO Stresses Need to Pool Resources to Serve Big Clients

By Rupal Parekh

Before delving into talking about Omnicom Group’s financial performance during its third-quarter earnings call with analysts this morning, CEO John Wren explained a new area of focus that’s sounding familiar in adland: the need to pool resources from different agencies to serve a single client.

“We continue to generate solid organic growth particularly in light of the macroeconomic environment,” Mr. Wren said. As he explained the reasons why the group has turned in a solid performance this year, he attributed talent, and increasing coordination of integrated marketing among top 50 clients. What that means is bringing together top talent from different agencies to service the biggest and most important accounts for Omnicom.

“Collaboration and coordination across agencies is even more important today,” said Mr. Wren, as many of them are seeking to slash marketing budgets. The approach is helping Omnicom retain and grow business organically, or, as he put it, clients are “expanding our mandates and awarding us new pieces of business.”

Mr. Wren has always been hands-on at the holding company level when it comes to servicing clients. But today’s discussion suggests that the company is making a new and broader effort to ensure that Omnicom can pool its creative, media, digital, CRM, and analytics resources to help keep its biggest clients happy.

He stopped short of talking about creating dedicated agencies, which is the strategy being employed by rival Martin Sorrell. Mr. Sorrell, by contrast, is using such team structures, or essentially newly-built agencies as a way to pitch new accounts. With a half a dozen of these new dedicated agencies, such as Red Fuse or Team Lincoln, under the WPP roof already, he seems to be having some success.

As far as results, Omnicom continued to turn in a solid performance. Mr. Wren noted that the advertising and CRM disciplines performed well, and U.S. saw organic growth of 3.1%. Net new business was over $1 billion for the quarter, he said, but did not call out particular wins.

Omnicom’s net income for the third quarter of 2012 increased slightly to $203.9 million from $203.7 million in the third quarter of 2011. Worldwide revenue was essentially flat, growing to $3.4 billion from $3.38 billion in the quarter. While domestic revenue grew 3.2% to $1.76 billion, global revenue took a slight dip. In a sign that could show the impact of the troubled Eurozone and other areas, its international revenue decreased 1.7% to $1.64 billion.

9802: Propelling Shit On TV.

Last May, MultiCultClassics noted a clear case of Corporate Cultural Collusion involving Omnicom and PepsiCo, whereby the Propel Zero account shifted from one sister agency to another under the guise of formal reviews. The incumbent agency—Goodby, Silverstein & Partners—was ultimately replaced by the virtually unknown Fathom. This Propel Zero commercial from the new AOR is awful, and hardly on the caliber of what one might expect from GS&P. In fact, it appears to be a poor adman’s version of a campaign created years ago for the brand by another Omnicom agency.

8764: Omnicom Versus Omnicom For Victory.

As previously noted, PepsiCo’s Propel Zero account went into “review” among a handful of Omnicom shops. And guess what? An Omnicom shop “won” the business. The Propel brand has propelled from Element 79 to Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to new AOR Fathom Communications. Never heard of the place? Hey, most people have never heard of the Propel brand either, so maybe it’s a perfect match—as well as another perfect example of Corporate Cultural Collusion.