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US Agency revenue growth plummets in Q3 – the canary in the mine
With less than a week to go and Trump edging ahead in some polls, albeit possibly still behind with regards electoral college votes, there’s going to be some sweaty palms in financial markets. A month ago, a Clinton victory may have seemed like a slam dunk and indeed one bookie (Paddy Power Betfair) was reported […]
Continue readingMarkets get nervous on Ad Agencies ahead of long awaited ANA report on media kick-backs
Phantom menace It’s taken eight months, but is seems the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) is finally ready to release its eight month investigation into US media agency rebates. Its apparent pre-release briefing to a number of trade publications and newspapers suggests that it has uncovered ‘Non-Transparent’ practices, including claims that agencies are collecting media […]
Continue readingFacebook: Q1 beat followed by controlling shareholder share sale – ring any bells?
Facebook shares had a good bounce on its blistering Q1 results which, oh so conveniently, accompanied its announcement of a stock split into new non-voting C class shares. This is a similar ploy the one Vere Rothermere used a few years ago with the DMGT scrip issue as a way of enabling him (well at […]
Continue readingPublicis – a growing credibility issue as another client defects
“Omnicom demonstrated superior and proven performance in the area of data analytics, planning and buying, innovation, talent and financial value” – P&G global brand officer Marc Pritchard on last week’s announcement that it will be replacing Publicis Groupe’s Starcom Mediavest with Omnicom’s OMG for its North American media-buying, worth around $2.66bn pa. While the […]
Continue readingDigital Plonkers
WPP’s annual digital investor day provided Sir Martin Sorrell another opportunity to show off his digital wares as well as take some entertaining swings at rivals; particularly the “plonkers†who had recently been over-paying (ie out-bidding WPP) for digital assets and particularly those in Brazil. Comment est-ce qu’on dit ça en Francaise Maurice? At […]
Continue readingPublicis bids $3.7bn for Sapient Inc. – how to buy ‘organic growth’
Finding a marriage of ‘equals’ with Omnicom was not to its tastes, Publicis is back to what it does best; hoovering up smaller digital marketing operations. When you are not a Wonga client and can borrow at only 2.6%, then buying in a business on an operating profit yield of approx 5.5% before synergies and […]
Continue readingFinally, a memorable financial advert
With marketing infatuated with big data, social media, mobile and any other nerdy technology where they can bamboozle the client with techno-babble, it is a pleasure to see a good creative advert. I may have been ‘exposed’ to a thousand marketing messages from the financial services industry, and for which someone has paid good money, […]
Continue readingWPP FY14 interims: flat margins on >+4% organic sales
WPP :Â Â The group is tightening the screw on hiring and staff costs to absorb slowing net sales growth while maintaining the public forecasts of rising GDP and advertising expenditure into 2015. The hitherto growth engine markets of BRIC however, are looking increasingly wobbly, while the contraction in margins at the digitally heavy specialist communications […]
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