The practice has worked quietly this year before its formal relaunch with a number of clients including Verizon. The firm leveraged Verizon's partnerships with the NFL and Indycar to develop a series of virtual corporate hospitality events that included access to NFL and Indycar talent.

GroupM's new forecast predicts that next year, ecommerce in the U.S. will account for 16.2% of retail sales. The analysis is focused on retail ecommerce and thus omits service-focused sectors, such as travel, finance or digital media.

"We should definitely be less dependent on the platforms," said Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun. "And if that's true for us, it is definitely true for our clients."

Three new appointments this week follow the hiring of McCann's Devika Bulchandani in November to serve as NA CEO and Global Chairwoman of Advertising.

The kitchen and bath brand is providing people with a fun way to flush the year down the toilet, with a campaign developed with its agency Empower. You remember fun, right?

Bill Kolb doesn't officially take over as CEO of McCann Worldgroup until Jan. 1, but he's already putting his stamp on the agency's new leadership team.

The deal is designed to help scale both companies' offerings. Lambert, based in Detroit, has taken an undisclosed investment stake in 9thWonder and absorbed its internal PR Unit in Houston.

The company confirmed today that its international operations, which includes agencies Carat and mcgarrybowen, would cut its workforce by 12.5% as part of an on-going restructuring announced in August.

The agency veteran will lead client services and spearhead Finlabs' U.S. strategy and development of products and services.

Both agencies work with brands to create music assets for advertising and other brand-related content.