• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 9, 2013

We've been saying it for years! It won't be long before every ad agency in the world is owned by one company. OK, maybe two what with antitrust laws and all. We haven't even stopped reeling from the Publicis-Omnicom merger and now a merger between Dentsu and Interpublic Group is being floated. Pivotal Research Group Senior Analyst Brian Wieser released a report in which he posits Dentsu will be the next holding company to seek a merger and Interpublic will be the target. Does it stop? It's like a medical horror-themed porn flick where enlarging oneself is the ultimate goal and becoming freakishly huge is even better.

If there's one thing today's advertising industry lacks it’s stick-to-itiveness. Yeah, we just used a word mom used all the time but it's apropos. Back in the good old days of advertising, brands and agencies would stick together through thick and thin forming lasting relationships that helped build some of the strongest brands on the shelf. Today, it seems, the only way a brand feels as though it can get ahead or change directions is to change agencies. It's as if the people they hired suddenly turned into idiots. Of course, that's absolutely not the case. Rather, CMOs want to put their "mark" on things and the easiest way to do that is to hold an agency review. 

Now that isn't exactly what happened in the case of Sprite last week but it's similar. The soft drink brand has changed agencies  after having been with Leo Burnett for just under 18 months. They have chosen to go with Translation. Translation's a great agency. So is Leo Burnett. In fact Leo Burnett has been steward to some of the most famous brands known to man, working with many of them for decades. But, sadly, those days are gone and change is the new norm. Sprite has worked with Turner Duckworth, Johannes Leonardo, BBH and others. And let's not even talk about how many times the brand has changed its positioning and tagline over those few years. Hmm. Maybe an agency relationship is like marriage. People used to work things out to make the relationship work. Now they just quit and move on to the next shiny new object.

In other news that makes the aforementioned agency shift about as important as an ant crossing the street during a Presidential inauguration, John Olson, founder of Minneapolis-based agency Olsen died over the weekend after a year-long bout with cancer. Olson began his career in 1984 at Campbell Mithun. He launched his agency in 1992 and, in 2007, launched BrandLab, an entity that focused on introducing low income students to careers in advertising. The agency will hold a memorial service  Wednesday.

Well this is interesting. Mcgarrybowen, a unit of Dentsu (hmm...), has added the role of Chief of Staff. Isn't that a positioned reserved for the government? In any case, the role will be filled by Daniel Korn who was most recently North American business director for Ogilvy & Mather. In the position, Korn will help manage overall agency needs as well as current clients and prospects. Will it all be walk and talk now at Mcgarrybowen?

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