ipg in danger of bankruptcy

So, here I am just poking around the internet as you do on a typical workday afternoon when I happen upon a Yahoo article about flailing companies…and what relevant-to-this-blog company do I find on that list?

Michael Rawth’s Interpublic Group.

IPG sits tenth on the list of companies deemed by Yahoo, using a very simple (to a fault among anyone more serious about economics than an ad blogger) formula that determines perceived bankruptcy risk among companies with a market cap over $3 billion.

Says Yahoo, “As one of the largest advertising and marketing companies in the world, IPG was slammed by the global recession…revenues have fallen double digits and the company’s exposure to General Motors as its largest client hasn’t helped.”

Luckily, I don’t think that anyone at an IPG agency expected a Christmas bonus anyway…

as expected, mediaedge loses

The final results are in on the Cadbury Schweppes media agency review and, as expected, Mediaedge:cia has been left without a dance partner after the beverages giant went with Interpublic’s Initiative. Also missing out, but likely less disappointed because they were not the incumbent, were The Martin Agency and Mullen.

I am not going to pretend that I don’t like saying “I told you so” because, frankly, I do. I told you so.

Agency Spy, who was also in the mix early, also enjoys saying and and goes on to note that Initiative is certain to be partying hearty after this win and that of the Hyundai/Kia account. Congratulations, the celebration is well deserved.

zipatoni slain by an evil holding company

Holding companies have destroyed the soul of advertising.

The financial pressures of the holding companies on individual agencies has made those agencies just give lip service to great creative while really focusing on quarterly earnings, reduce agency flexibility in resigning or not taking clients that pay well but don’t fit the agency’s profile, and take away the risk-taking that is responsible for great creative work (but might, once in a while, push things too far and result in an account loss). Holding companies bear direct responsibility for tearing out the creative soul of advertising.

And, in some cases, for tearing out the creative soul of individual agencies.

Like the second-oldest ad agency in the world, Foote, Cone & Belding which was folded into Draft to become the much-loved DraftFCB. And other names like D’Arcy, Benton & Bowles and Needham were folded together by holding companies eager to do…what, exactly?

Who knows, but moving things is fun!

At any rate, it’s happened again, this time with Interpublic-owned St Louis shop Zipatoni which was just merged with fresh-faced, formed a year ago agency Rivet. According to AdAge, this brings a whole lot of talent in to Rivet. According to experience, this means a whole exodus of talent to independent shops that don’t have the bullshit of the big places.

Sell out to a holding company and you’ve sold your soul