By now we’ve all yawned at the failure of the Omnicom / Publicis merger.
Here is how Bloomberg reported the snoozer and a link to an insightful interview on Bloomberg Television’s “The Pulse” with London Advertising’s CEO Michael Moszynski. Michael manages to offer a perspective that only the English could enunciate clearly — and he gets some great PR for his agency. And… manages to also squeeze in London’s One Brilliant Idea pitch – sweet:
“LONDON is an international advertising agency built for today. We create One Brilliant Idea that can work in any media, anywhere in the world.”
Not a bad PR days work.
So Does Size Matter?
No.
But, of course, many clients like it big. Microsoft as of last week thinks that having a mega-sized agency is a must have for a major brand that lives across the globe and, I assume, a cure all for past marketing ills. From Advertising Age:
Microsoft is moving its multibillion-dollar ad and media business, indicating a fresh-start approach under newly appointed CMO Chris Capossela.
The tech giant has selected Interpublic Group as agency of record for advertising and global deployment while Dentsu Argis will handle media planning, media buying and search advertising, the company said in a statement.
You want big?
Interpublic has 43,000 employees and dentsu 7,500. Does Microsoft, a notoriously lame, directionless marketer, need an agency resource with over 50,000 scattered strangers or does it need one really smart agency that can manage some global TLC? Smart being the operative word.
Sure Microsoft (and thier new CMO) thinks MSFT needs lots of dots on a map and I know that this perspective, in addition to ego, drove a search for a large humongus agency base. But, what Microsoft really needs more than a BIG agency is A BIG STRATEGIC IDEA to help create a big, sustainable, compelling brand proposition for all of their B2C and B2B brands? You know, a Master Brand position to start and then run with. Apple, a notoriously not lame or directionless company, never went mega agency. Nuf said.
And, at the moment I think that Google is creating some of the best tech advertising. Can you name their huge agency?
But, really does size matter? That’s why I want you to watch the Bloomberg video. Michael answers the question.
[Truth be told, I sold the idea of dots on the map when I ran business development at Saatchi. So, I get that approach. But, it feels so 1990’s.]
