Exactly on the day when Global CEO, Jon Cook posted on LinkedIn celebrating a year of VML, a product of a merger between two of WPP’s top agencies – Wunderman Thompson and VML; Publicis Groupe decided to take a similar leap of faith. Publicis Worldwide’s ‘Lion’ from the logo and Leo Burnett’s Leo came together to create a new agency brand called Leo. Interestingly, this calculated move also came before the echoes of the possible impact of a mega merger between two holding companies, Omnicom and IPG, had died down in the market.
Leo Burnett, under the leadership of Rajdeepak Das, has for years been the star agency of the Publicis Groupe in India, bringing in global awards and revenue alike. On the other hand, Publicis (Worldwide) India has been its inferior cousin, as per industry experts. However, even Publicis India was once a creative powerhouse, which gave campaigns like the one with The Great Khali for Ambuja Cement, the first Ranveer-Alia ads for MakeMyTrip, a formula that the brand continues to use till date despite changing multiple agencies along the way, the very endearing ‘Khushiyon ki Recipe’ for Maggi and many more. While the opinions on the past few mergers have been rather negative, this time most people in the industry feel that the combination of Publicis India and Leo Burnett in India may perhaps be a shot in the arm for the former, which will help create a more profitable and competitive frontier also offering integrated, cutting-edge solutions to clients as Publicis Groupe claims.
Bobby Pawar, who led Publicis Worldwide India for a few years until 2018, reflects, “Publicis (Worldwide) India is not what it used to be. Everybody is aware of that, not just in terms of business, but in terms of creative firepower too. In contrast, Leo Burnett has been riding high and is stronger in reputation; Publicis India could use some help from the coming together of these two brands. But it will depend on what the new entity will bring to the table.”
Strategic Advisor Shamsuddin Jasani, who was brought in as CEO post the merger of digital first Wunderman with India’s oldest agency JWT has a slightly different perspective when it comes to mergers between agencies as a whole, “We are in the business of brands, and foremost we need to respect that our brand itself holds value, not just in the minds of clients, but also very importantly in the minds of the people who are working or who have worked with those brands. There is a legacy that needs to be maintained and honoured.”
Adding to that, Rohit Ohri, ex Chairman of FCB Group India, says, “While this strategy of bringing together two agencies may improve profitability and create a stronger front-facing brand, the challenges are significant. Internally, morale issues can arise as the weaker entity’s teams feel subsumed rather than integrated. Externally, long-standing clients of Publicis WW India may question whether their needs will be deprioritized in favour of Leo Burnett’s approach or ethos.”
We have seen a spate of mergers in the past decade, be it VML with Y&R or Wunderman with JWT, the more contentious ones being Dentsu, which decided to replace popular brands like Webchutney and Taproot with the little heard of McGarryBowen. The other one was VML and Wunderman Thompson, where the remains of a giant was folded into VML erasing its name from the door completely, and putting the spotlight on a younger brand prominent globally but lesser heard of in India. While Dentsu as an afterthought brought back the Webchutney brand a few years later, VML as an agency has not managed to make a dent in the advertising business in India so far, say experts.
This current merger between Publicis Worldwide and Leo Burnett and their counterparts in India, at least favoured the bigger and more sparkling agency between the two within the country, the global decision not completely out of sync with the reality of what’s the dominant agency in India, even as the holding company in question has clarified in a statement that the structures are unlikely to change here at the moment. “This announcement has just come in and will be rolled out worldwide over the next couple of months. We have no further comments to offer at this point in time. As stated globally, leadership structures at a local level remain unchanged. Clients will not see changes to their existing teams or service structures,” a Publicis Groupe India spokesperson told IMPACT. Globally it would be a combination of 8,000 creative minds from Leo Burnett and 7,000 from PWW.
Currently, Paritosh Srivastava is the CEO of Publicis India, he handles a larger mandate, also heading L&K Saatchi and Saatchi, another agency under the Publicis umbrella in India, which has clearly seen a turnaround in revenues in the past few years. Amitesh Rao, CEO of Leo Burnett, South Asia, Anirban Roy, CSO, Leo Burnett, Vikram Pandey (Spiky) and Sachin Kamble, CCO, Leo Burnett India; Oindrila Roy, Managing Director, Publicis India, Aman Mannan and Shitu Patil, Joint National Creative Directors, Publicis India, are the other top leaders from both sides. At this point, the Group says it is business as usual at a local level and no immediate departures from leadership teams are planned. But if the consolidation has to truly come into effect, experts in India say, heads will roll at various levels as the drive for efficiency always comes at the cost of human capital.
Just like Publicis Worldwide, a few years ago, Taproot, which was the brainchild of creative mavericks Agnello Dias and Santosh Padhi, was one of the agencies folded into another by Dentsu. During that mass consolidation exercise, the network had to let go of several top leaders. Talking from his experience, Padhi says, “Such big mergers aren’t good news for the employees because they are taken by the global bosses who are far away from the ground realities. Agencies and cultures are built by passionate people who run it and they are responsible for adding to the bottom line each year. It is because of them that the global bosses manage their hefty bonuses, how then can they forget them? There is enough data and also past examples of internal conflict, misalignment and, at times, blood bath internally, which eventually reflects on the brands.”
“It’s sad how a handful of people who have never visited 80% of the countries that they oversee are allowed to take such calls; they should bring on board 50% if not 100% of the employees working in those offices while taking such decisions and alternatively give them enough time to decide if they want to work for this new entity,” he rues.
As far as the Publicis Groupe is concerned, the idea is to bring together the “human vision of the Leo Burnett Network” and the “innovation of Publicis Worldwide”, a network which has been winning many accolades on a global level. “Leo is ‘Hi meets AI’, Human Insight and Ideas, amplified by the data and the technology to do more, faster, everywhere,” says Publicis Groupe CEO, Arthur Sadoun.
Explaining how it makes sense from a business point of view, Rohit Ohri says, “The merging of creative agencies within holding groups, such as WPP’s consolidation of Grey and AKQA or Dentsu’s integration of McGarryBowen and other agencies, reflects a strategic response to market pressures. At an agency level, mergers help streamline operations and offer integrated services across creative, digital, and media, addressing client demands for holistic solutions. For example, Publicis Groupe’s Power of One model successfully brought agencies like Sapient and Leo Burnett under one umbrella, boosting synergy and efficiency.”
He adds, “At the holding company level, mergers like the planned Omnicom-IPG deal aim to combat tech giants like Google and Meta, which dominate ad spend, and consultancies like Accenture Song, which deliver data-driven solutions. However, challenges remain. When Publicis acquired Sapient, cultural clashes delayed integration, highlighting the risks. While mergers create scale and efficiency, retaining creativity and distinct agency cultures is critical for long-term success. Each agency brings its own identity, ethos, and way of working, and forcing these into a single mold often leads to friction. This can result in talent exodus, inefficiencies, and even client dissatisfaction.”
Bobby Pawar opines, “The two agencies being merged now differ in a big way on the culture fragment, but I personally don’t subscribe to global cultures, it depends largely on the leadership in each country, like BBDO is all about -The Work, The Work, The Work, which signifies cutthroat competition, but Josy Paul has created an ‘Ashram’ like environment in his office; both are effective.”
Is consolidation the answer?
N Chandramouli, CEO of TRA Research, who has been following this development closely, says, “Mergers at the agency and holding company levels serve multiple business objectives. For agencies, they enable consolidation of resources, a more comprehensive suite of services, and improved operational efficiency. Holding companies benefit by expanding their global footprint, diversifying client portfolios, and enhancing bargaining power with media and technology partners. The planned Omnicom-IPG merger, for example, positions them to outpace competitors by leveraging scale and synergy to deliver greater value to clients.”
Many years ago, when Accenture acquired one of the topmost creative agencies, Droga5, there was an outburst on how David Droga could sell out to a Consulting giant. Two years later, Accenture Interactive went on to become the largest ad agency in the world, bigger than Ogilvy, BBDO and McCann combined, with a revenue of $10.6 billion and 18,000 employees in 40 offices. So, the fear within advertising circles had become palpable by then. Add to that the threat of tech companies like Meta, Google and Amazon.
Bobby Pawar breaks it down, “The creative agency business has been degrowing and clearly people are panicking. No global holding company CEO today is talking about creativity; instead, they talk about technology, platform and performance. The medium sized businesses don’t need to do anything except hire a few people to use Meta AI tools to create content on Meta platforms, and that obviously cuts agency revenue by 50% or so. So, Meta becomes the agency world’s competitor.”
Adding to that, Chandramouli says, “The growing influence of tech platforms and consultancies has fundamentally disrupted traditional advertising models by offering data-driven, targeted solutions. In response, traditional holding companies are merging to pool resources and invest in technology, aiming to compete with the precision, scale, and agility of these competitors. AI, in particular, is reshaping creative services, and holding companies see mergers as a way to adopt these innovations more effectively.”
We have seen some of the biggest advertisers across the world launch in-house agencies in the recent past, be it Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Godrej or Swiggy. On the other hand, economic pressures like reduced consumer demand and tight budgets are driving mergers, pushing holding companies to seek efficiencies. Mergers are seen as an avenue to cut costs, eliminate redundancies, and create stronger, more resilient entities capable of navigating financial challenges. The long-term success of these moves depends on maintaining creativity, fostering a cohesive culture, and ensuring that clients truly experience the promised innovation rather than just a rebranded façade. If handled poorly, these mergers risk being seen as mere cost-cutting exercises rather than transformative leaps forward.
But the biggest problem lies elsewhere, says Shamsuddin Jasani. “The holding group structure has become too complex. Over a period of last 20-25 years, because of the complexities, the costs have gone up. Cost optimization is really the focus of most mergers. From a holding company perspective, it makes sense to have fewer but stronger brands and a less complex business model. And yet I feel consolidation is not the answer, instead, we need to understand how the client and agency ecosystem needs to evolve to answer to two external threats. In this case, it would be the new age companies that are coming into our businesses and clients who are expecting us to deliver with newer technology with AI/ML coming into the picture. The network agency model needs to evolve to be able to deliver. With all of these, I have a very strong feeling that independent agencies will start flourishing once again. Because they are adopting much more quickly to the needs of the client as well as to the newer ways of working with the technologies,” Jasani explains.
Rohit Ohri says, from an industry perspective, mergers create both opportunities and challenges. For smaller agencies, the consolidation of giants may initially seem daunting, as clients could be drawn to the perceived security and comprehensiveness of larger entities. However, these same smaller players may find opportunities in the gaps left by mergers - such as clients seeking more personalized attention or innovative ideas that larger entities, burdened by bureaucracy, may struggle to provide. The polarization of the industry into giants and boutique agencies could limit the diversity of ideas and competition, but it also paves the way for smaller, nimble players to thrive in niches. It also creates opportunities for independent agencies to attract talent disillusioned by the corporate shuffle.
The founder of the agency in news - Leo Burnett, in his parting speech back in 1967, told his people to remove his name off the door on the day when they ‘spend more time trying to make money and less time making advertising – our kind of advertising.’ Has the time truly come to honour the request? Is consolidation truly what can save the holding company ecosystem, is there even one solid example of an efficacious merger in the past decade in India, let’s just say the answer to all of that is as easy to decipher as the great Indian headshake.
