17338: BHM 2026—Target.

Target celebrates Black History Month…? Target?!

17337: Omnicom Post-Merger Postmortem.

Advertising Age reported on the new business cycle—as well as old business losses—at Omnicom after its acquisition of IPG.

 

Seems the only people benefiting from the mess are analysts, Monday morning merger quarterbacks providing clueless color commentary.

 

The progressing post-merger postmortem will likely expose increased casualties and collateral damages. It’s death by 4,000+ cuts.

 

How Omnicom’s new business is faring post-merger

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

The newly formed Omnicom has had a mixed new business cycle to start the year—the type of performance analysts believe was to be expected as the industry adjusts to the realities of its acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos.

 

While the new No. 1 agency company may well prevail in any number of major pitches it’s currently going after—including IBM, Dyson and Delta—it’s also faced existing accounts going into review or moving.

 

The latest is Smirnoff, which launched a global creative review, parent company Diageo confirmed with Ad Age. The vodka brand’s account has been with McCann, which declined to defend the business, since 2022.

 

“We’re incredibly proud of the partnership and the globally recognized work we developed with Smirnoff over the past 3 years,” McCann shared in a statement. “While we’ve chosen not to participate in the pitch, we wish them every success moving forward.”

 

The news of the Smirnoff review comes on the heels of The Home Depot departing from BBDO. Plus, SC Johnson is moving its U.S. media account from Omnicom to WPP, according to multiple sources close to the situation, though WPP and the client declined to comment. (Omnicom did retain SC Johnson’s international business.)

 

Delta launched a media agency review in October, after most recently working with Omnicom’s PHD. In December, Kenvue picked WPP and Publicis to handle its creative and media; Omnicom was unsuccessful in defending the business, which had been at IPG. Then, in January, Mondelēz International launched a creative agency review spanning its U.S. business, including Ritz, as well as global duties for Oreo. Those accounts were housed at Omnicom’s The Martin Agency, which is handling Ritz’s upcoming Super Bowl spot.

 

On the flip side, Omnicom has notched some important wins and retentions. Since last year, it added American Express on the creative side, NatWest and Clarins in terms of media, and BBVA and BNY for integrated remits. Mercedes-Benz has also extended its contract with Omnicom without a review until 2029, Omnicom confirmed.

 

This jumbled scorecard isn’t a surprise, said analysts, as clients take stock of the late November mega-merger.

 

Dan Jeffries, founder of Jeffries Consulting, predicts that Omnicom will be in “defense mode” throughout the year due to clients being unsure of the merger and how it might affect talent disruption within the holding company.

 

Brian Wieser, principal of Madison and Wall, said the changes underway at Omnicom could “absolutely be a catalyst for a client to look on someone else with more favor … or to be disgruntled or to expect that you’re just not going to get what you signed up for when you picked the agency during the last review.”

 

He added that the merger might also give clients an excuse to push for a better deal. “There is always an effort, especially with media, to reduce costs on the fees that are being paid and there’s also always an openness to a new offering.”

 

The most significant loss for Omnicom from a perception standpoint was Kenvue, Wieser said, noting that the account carried added weight given IPG’s historical ties to Johnson & Johnson. J&J’s media business had been with IPG in some capacity since 1973.

 

Omnicom did not respond to comments about its new business strategy, review performance or relationship with Kenvue.

 

“For anyone who remembers the role that J&J had within Interpublic over the years, it was somewhat foundational,” Wieser said. While he acknowledged “Kenvue itself changed and separated from J&J,” he described it as the type of marketer “where you kind of built your offering around them.” 

17336: BHM 2026—Simon & Schuster.

 

Simon & Schuster celebrates Black History Month by promoting Hope through Black History 2026 Calendar by Danielle Coke Balfour—so everyone can salute Black History beyond February.

17335: BHM 2026—Google.

 

Google—like the average White advertising agency—loves hip hop, celebrating Black History Month with The Art of Hip-Hop Beat Making.

17334: On Stagwell Stinky Strategic Alliance.

 

MediaPost reported Stagwell flushed two White advertising agencies—Doner and Colle McVoy—in a single toilet to create DonerColle Partners.

 

The corporate hype claims the maneuver is a strategic alliance versus a merger, and no layoffs resulted from combining the firms. Plus, the newly formed White advertising agency is “poised to more effectively and authentically relate to and embrace the sensibilities of everyday Americans who are often overlooked or disregarded by coastal agencies.”

 

That should be revised and expanded to declare the newly formed White advertising agency is “poised to more effectively and authentically relate to and embrace the sensibilities of everyday White Americans who are often overlooked or disregarded by coastal agencies. Non-White Americans will continue to be overlooked and disregarded by coast-to-coast White advertising agencies.”   

 

Stagwell Unites Two Agencies To Create DonerColle Partners

 

By Steve McClellan

 

In a move designed to better serve national brands between the coasts, Stagwell has unified two of its midwest agencies—Doner and Colle McVoy—to form DonerColle Partners.  

 

The move combines operations across more than 500 employees in Detroit, Minnesota and Chicago.

 

The company said the effort is “poised to more effectively and authentically relate to and embrace the sensibilities of everyday Americans who are often overlooked or disregarded by coastal agencies.”  

 

The two agencies will maintain their existing identities and client relationships under DonerColle Partners. Structured as a strategic alliance rather than a merger, the arrangement is intended to preserve the specialized expertise and culture of each agency while enabling “deeper collaboration, broadened creative capabilities, scaled media offerings and state-of-the-art production studios.”  

 

The new entity will be led by Jessica Henrichs as CEO and David DeMuth as executive chairman. Henrichs has been CEO of Colle McVoy and DeMuth has led Doner.  

 

Stagwell CEO Mark Penn noted the success that each agency has had on its own and that the combination creates an offering that “honors that legacy while embracing the future, leveraging AI, modern marketing and an informed perspective of the communities and consumers that shape America.” 

 

Stagwell said Doner’s strengths include strategy, creative, and integrated production studios across retail, CPG, automotive, consumer services, technology and health care brands. Colle McVoy, in turn, adds strength in media, design, PR and integrated campaign execution across CPG, QSR, home, lifestyle, retail and agriculture categories.  

 

Henrichs said, “We’re rethinking how agencies can come together to better deliver for America’s most iconic brands. We’re creating a partnership that’s agile, ambitious and deeply rooted in the values that matter most to clients today.”  

 

Clients include Stellantis, The UPS Store, Dairy Queen, La-Z-Boy, The Coca-Cola Company, 3M, Hackensack Meridian Health, Perdue Farms and McCormick & Company, among other major brands.  

 

The integration will begin immediately, with a phased rollout of combined operations, teams and branding throughout 2026.

17333: BHM 2026—A Century Of Black History Commemorations.

 

From the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH^®):

 

ASALH will hold programming in the month of February celebrating the 2026 Black History Theme: A Century of Black History Commemorations

 

2026 marks a century of national commemorations of Black history. Dr. Carter Godwin Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Moorland, Alexander L. Jackson, and James E. Stamps institutionalized the teaching, study, dissemination, and commemoration of Black history when they founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) on September 9, 1915.

 

In 1925, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson planned the inaugural week-long observance of Black history, he could hardly have anticipated the imprint he would leave on the world. From Negro History Week to Black History Month, ASALH has carried forth the tradition, and the observances have become part of the warp and weft of American culture and increasingly the global community. For our 100th theme, the founders of Black History Month urge us to explore the impact and meaning of Black history and life commemorations in transforming the status of Black peoples in the modern world.

 

As part of the global African diaspora, people of African descent in the United States have viewed their role in history as critical to their own development and that of the world. Along with writing Black histories, antebellum Black scholars north of slavery started observing the milestones in the struggle of people of African descent to gain their freedom and equality. Revealing their connection to the diaspora, they commemorated the Haitian Revolution, the end of the slave trade, and the end of slavery in Jamaica. They observed American emancipation with Watch Night, Jubilee Day, and Juneteenth celebrations. Eventually they feted the lives of individuals who fought against slavery, most notably Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The scholar Arthur A. Schomburg captured the motivation of Black people to dig up their own history and present it to the world: “The American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future.”

 

When Carter G. Woodson, as director of the Association, established Negro History Week, he did so as part of that tradition. Yet, by concentrating the attention of the American public on the scientific findings of historians, he sought to turn the commemorations more forthrightly into a far-reaching, organized, and sustained effort to transform how Black folks viewed themselves and how the world viewed them. Year after year, he built Negro History Week into an African American and American cultural institution. He set the themes and provided materials to illustrate the contributions people of African descent had made to the movement of history and modern culture. As his contemporary W. E. B. Du Bois put it, “He literally made this country … recognize and celebrate each year a week in which it studied the effect which the American Negro has had upon the life, thought and action in the United States. I know of no other man who in a lifetime has unaided built up such a national celebration.”

 

Since the passing of the founder, ASALH has continued his work, making Negro History Week and Black History Month an even more deeply rooted American institution. On February 10, 1976, during the United States Bicentennial, President Gerald R. Ford became the first president to issue a message recognizing Black History Month. Then in 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244 designating February as Black History Month. These efforts have made February the month when Black history finds its way not simply into the schools of the American nation, but also into cultural heritage sites (museums, archives, libraries, parks, etc.), public squares, workplaces, houses of worship, and homes across the land and across the oceans. These institutions offer sites to discover and learn more about African American history through programming, camps, book displays, and exhibitions.

 

To understand the modern world, especially nations where Black peoples form a significant population, one must grapple with the impact that the public observances have had on the past and the present. This year, when we are also commemorating the 250th anniversary of United States independence, it is important to tell not only an inclusive history, but an accurate one. We have never had more need to examine the role of Black History Month than we do when forces weary of democracy seek to use legislative means and book bans to excise Black history from America’s schools and public culture. Black history’s value is not its contribution to mainstream historical narratives, but its resonance in the lives of Black people.

17332: Delayed WTF 66—On Hiring Local.

 

MultiCultClassics is often occupied with real work. As a result, a handful of events occur without the expected blog commentary. This limited series—Delayed WTF—seeks to make belated amends for the absence of malice.

 

Advertising Age published a perspective recommending White advertising agencies hire local talent, especially to serve regional clients.

 

Okay, but will local hiring reflect regional demographics?

 

According to recent US Census data: Black residents make up approximately 47%–48% of the population within the city limits of Atlanta, Georgia; Blacks make up roughly 42% of the population in Richmond, Virginia; In Chicago, Illinois, the Black population is 28%–29% of the city; Blacks in Dallas, Texas, comprise around 23%–24% of the city’s total population.

 

Will Blacks employed at White advertising agencies in such areas be fairly represented? Ditto other racial and ethnic minorities?

 

Sorry, White advertising agencies do not invest in local talent through a DEIBA+ lens.

 

There is a continuing reinvestment in systemic racism.

 

Why agencies should invest in local talent to serve regional clients

 

By Kristi Lind

 

Remember those flush days when agency networks were made up of multiple regional offices servicing key markets in client verticals? Then we became a data-driven industry engaged in a frothy arms race for audiences, and the in-person approach began to wane.

 

It’s a far cry from where we are today, as agency land has become the protagonist in a modern-day war of attrition. The age of client procurement has been marked by a general confusion about agencies’ value proposition, with consultancies encroaching upon their turf. Then the pandemic happened, which made agency real estate prohibitive in many markets and #WFH has become an ongoing bone of contention with talent.

 

These macro industry trends over the years have had many knock-on effects, namely, agencies’ struggle to partner with and service clients with comprehensive regional needs. Many agencies cite shifting resources and P&L pressures.

 

At the end of the day, clients will demand speed and nimbleness from their agencies and will not think twice about finding it elsewhere. While there are challenges, an agency can figure out a paradigm that fits the modern age.

 

Here are three best practices to embrace:

 

IRL is where client relationships are forged

 

Against relentless cost headwinds, some agencies may be tempted to conduct business virtually. It may sound quaint, but the personal touch never goes out of style. For regional and local clients, an agency needs to have talent in the market.

 

Local talent knows how to solve local problems, and their presence is powerful in building client trust. Or it could be an agency over-indexing on staff to service the account with a good balance of virtual and in-person interaction.

 

It makes sense to have your agency lead drive half the day to see an out-of-town client; the opportunity cost is well worth the trust, rapport and creativity that can be nurtured in efficient strategizing, planning and rapport-building. This is how trust is built and how solutions are hatched. This is where inspiration can lead to new avenues of brand expression and engagement, more so than over the flatness of email or the detached interaction on Zoom.

 

Geography is just as important now as 10 years ago

 

The granular understanding of nuanced differences in specific markets is vital for modern success. Fixating on the “must-win” markets, states and ZIP codes, mapped against client strongholds, is mission-critical in growing market share across key verticals.

 

Invest regional business savvy

 

“Do more with less” is a mantra that has come to dominate the agency business in recent times. But adequate investment in talent resources can be a strong differentiator. Even if you don’t have a regional office in a particular market, if you have the headcount and the expertise, it will be easier to allocate talent to those markets on an as-needed basis.

 

Technology has made us better. AI certainly lightens the administrative load—no more banging out client reports at a rest stop—and it allows us to be smarter, faster and more efficient with media buying and campaign management.

 

Technology can solve some troublesome back-of-the-house challenges, but agencies mustn’t lose sight of the equal importance of the front of the house. As transformational as tech’s impact may be, there is no replacement for IRL relationship-building. Tools are additive to the foundational human bond forged between the client and the agency team.

 

This bond of trust is increasingly vital against the backdrop of the dizzying speed of channel proliferation and fragmentation. With the stakes even higher, business at the speed of IRL should be driven by seasoned and talented humans, supported by best-in-class tech.

 

Properly running regional client business is certainly not for the faint of heart. It’s been all too easy for agency heads to rationalize marginalizing or even giving up on regional business in today’s tough climate. Or you could just double down and prove to clients that they can trust you to deliver on a sophisticated regional strategy with diligence and vigilance.

17331: Expelling Excrement On The CMOs’ Expectations Study.

 

More About Advertising reported on the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) CMOs’ Expectations Study, which revealed what CMOs really want from White advertising agencies.

 

The study spotlighted an obvious contradiction. Specifically, CMOs are seeking relationships built on trust and deep business involvement—yet they prevent the possibilities via constant pitching and switching.

 

Not mentioned in the study is how CMOs perpetuate systemic racism in Adland by pursuing partnerships from an exclusive pool of White advertising agencies.

 

What’s more, CMOs comprise an exclusive, predominately White group themselves.

 

After all, there’s plenty of data showing non-White advertising agencies are underrepresented, underutilized, and underpaid by clients. The few shops receiving assignments are compensated with crumbs.

 

Sorry, the CMOs’ Expectation Study shows CMOs can be expected to deliver deliberate discrimination, disinterest, and disrespect.

 

EACA report: do clients actually want real agency partners?

 

By Stephen Foster

 

A new report from the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) with Kantar, reveals the contradiction at the heart of what clients want from their agencies.

 

The CMOs’ Expectations Study reveals that nearly all (94%) clients believe agencies can be true partners they can trust but they continue to undermine the process of building trust by constantly holding pitches and changing partners.

 

Nearly half of those questioned ran a pitch within the last year, and 65% of those resulted in an agency change. Such constant turnover makes it harder to agencies to behave as true partners and produce more effective communications. Research into Effie Europe 2025 entries reveals that partnerships that have lasted five years or longer are far more effective and successful than those that have shorter tenures.

 

The report, designed to help agencies understand how they can better meet client needs, is the most comprehensive European study to date on what CMOs expect from their agencies, based on responses from 141 different companies in 22 European markets, with 95% of respondents in marketing/communication or top management roles across a broad range of brand-driven sectors such as consumer goods, banking, insurance, energy, tech and services.

 

EACA worked closely with Kantar to analyse responses, using both closed-question analytics and open-ended semantic analysis, delivering both a clear ranking of CMO priorities and a deeper understanding of the emotional and cultural expectations shaping today’s client–agency relationships.

 

The result is a clear hierarchy of what truly convinces CMOs when choosing an agency, or to continue to work with an existing partner. Trust (49% first choice) and deep business involvement (41%) emerge well ahead of creativity. However, both can only really develop over time and are constantly undermined by inefficient repitching, where six out of 10 winning ideas are never even implemented.

 

Creative excellence remains important (it’s a Top Three factor for 72% of respondents), but only when paired with strategic intelligence, operational reliability and strong brand stewardship.

 

“This report confirms the anecdotal evidence from the industry that the agency remit is continuing to expand, with client expectations at an all-time high, while output timelines are shrinking,” says Charley Stoney, CEO of EACA. “It is critical that the industry tackles these expectations and work with advertisers to help them flex remuneration models that pay for this expanded remit, included technology investment. It supports the EACAs opinion that agencies need to move away from the time-based payment structure towards an agile model that works with a blend of human and artificial intelligence services.”

17330: ICYMI ICE RFI WTF.

 

MediaPost reported ICE issued an RFI for “Big Data & Ad Tech”—although it’s not clear what the hell that means. Here’s the RFI Purpose verbatim:

 

This RFI is seeking market research information to obtain industry feedback from qualified professionals that could provide operational platforms and data services. It is the Government’s intent to select several respondents to this RFI to present a live demonstration of their operational capabilities, platforms and data services that can support the overall need. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation, nor does it commit the Government to issue a solicitation or make an award.

 

It’s also unclear if White advertising agencies and White media firms might respond, especially since so many are touting data and tech capabilities.

 

Plus, would the RFI ultimately lead to an RFP and subsequent pitch?

 

It’s a mysterious scenario. If advertising agencies engage in an account review, will Latino shops be invited to participate?

 

And if ICE doesn’t like an RFI response, would the submitting enterprise be subject to detainment, deportation, and/or deadly force?

 

Finally, President Donald J. Trump might earn a repeat for White Man Of The Year honors.

 

ICE Issues RFI For ‘Ad Tech Compliant’ Data

 

By Wendy Davis

 

Immigration and Customs Enforcement appears to be exploring whether it can harness ad-tech data for investigations, according to a request for information published late last week in the Federal Register.

 

The agency is “gathering information to better understand how the industry’s commercial Big Data and ad tech providers can directly support investigations activities,” the request stated.

 

ICE added that it aims “to understand the current state of Ad Tech compliant and location data services available to federal investigative and operational entities, considering regulatory constraints and privacy expectations of support investigations activities.”

 

ICE didn’t explain what it means by the terms in its request, including the phrase “Ad Tech compliant.”

 

The organization also suggested it’s interested in software capable of handling complex datasets.

 

ICE writes that it is “working with increasing volumes of criminal, civil, and regulatory, administrative documentation from numerous internal and external sources,” and is “assessing the marketplace for ... solutions comparable to large providers of investigative data and legal/risk analytics.”

 

The agency did not respond to MediaPost’s request for comment.

 

ICE says its request is “solely for market research, planning and information gathering purposes and is not to be construed as a commitment by the government to issue a subsequent solicitation.”

 

Nonetheless, the request is “alarming,” says John Davisson, a deputy director at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

 

“It is a really troubling distillation of the alignment between commercial surveillance and state surveillance that has been growing for a long time now,” he tells MediaPost.

 

ICE already has deals with tech companies that offer information that can be used to identify individuals.

 

Among other examples, the agency has purchased facial recognition technology, and reportedly has tapped Palantir to develop a tool capable of determining home addresses of specific individuals ICE wants to detain and deport.

 

Privacy advocates and some federal lawmakers have long raised concerns about the sale of commercial data to the government, arguing that law enforcement agencies shouldn’t obtain non-public data without first seeking approval from a judge.

 

Last year, the House passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act (HR 4639), which would have required federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to obtain a court order before buying personal information from data brokers, and also prohibit government agencies from purchasing data obtained through deception or violations of a privacy policy.

 

The Senate has not passed the measure.

 

The ad industry group Network Advertising Initiative supported the bill, as did more than 40 advocacy organizations including the Center for Democracy & Technology, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Free Press.