Richard Edelman calls Omnicom's acquisition of IPG marketing's fourth 'big bang'

Omnicom’s acquisition of rival holding company Interpublic Group marks the fourth “big bang” in the history of the agency business, according to Edelman CEO Richard Edelman. 

The first, he said, happened in the 1950s when Marion Harper formed Interpublic Group, creating the first marketing services holding company with advertising firm McCann Erickson at its core. 

Then, in 1986, Omnicom Group was created through the merger of US advertising agencies BBDO, Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper Worldwide. 

And in 2002, Publicis merged with advertising network Bcom3 Group, creating the world’s fourth-largest holding company at the time.  

Over the course of the last 20-plus years, most industry deals have been holding companies buying agencies. Yet now the industry is preparing for its next pivotal change as two entire holding companies come together. 

“This is the fourth big consolidation, and there's always a lot of shakeout from that,” he said. 

When “mega-mergers” such as the proposed Omnicom-IPG deal happen, it implies that the agencies are looking for efficiencies in order to scale, Edelman explained. 

The deal, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of 2025. 

Both holding companies are home to agencies across advertising, marketing, PR and other areas. Omnicom houses Omnicom PR Group, comprising FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, MMC and Porter Novelli. Additional firms under the group include FP1 Strategies, Malansky + Partners, OSK, Plus Communications and Portland. 

IPG’s Specialized Communications and Experiential Solutions division consists of PR firms Golin, IPG Dxtra Health, R&CPMK and The Weber Shandwick Collective. 

There are two efficiency factors at work in this acquisition, according to Edelman: AI and the logic of combination. He predicts, based on Omnicom’s history, that there will be a consolidation of firms, noting that the holding company’s ad agencies are already effectively combined via Omnicom Advertising Group. 

As a result, there will be talent that leaves the holding companies, whether by their own volition or otherwise, Edelman added. The ultimate question will be whether the integrated company of Ommicom and IPG, under the Omnicom brand, will have the size and scale to deliver for clients. 

Edelman, along with other independent shops, may have the upper hand on that front, according to the CEO of the world’s largest firm by revenue. Edelman’s firm laid off more than three-hundred employees this month. 

“My view is it makes our position as an independent and privately owned business more attractive because we're all about clients and not about efficiency, and we're all about being able to innovate within our category,” he said. “That's what I intend to do.”

The CEO remarked that he “likes” the acquisition for Edelman, though his positive outlook should be construed as confidence, not overconfidence. 

“Not to overstate our advantage, but we have the size and scale. We also have this independent muscle factor, and it's going to take time for these companies to merge,” Edelman said, citing WPP’s combination this year of BCW and Hill & Knowlton. “This is not simple to do when you have these mega-combinations.”

Edelman said he also believes that the timing of Omnicom’s IPG acquisition was not related to leadership changes at PR firms inside the holding companies. Former Weber Shandwick Collective CEO Gail Heimann retired in November and former FleishmanHillard chief John Saunders stepped down in October.

As cosmic events like big bangs often do, Omnicom and IPG’s combination will have profound effects. With continued advancements in AI—and the costs associated with those investments for both big and small firms—agencies will need to show tactile evidence of their work. 

“The PR industry is going to have to continue to prove that it actually has tangible results. It's not enough to have clips or other things,” Edelman said. “You have to sell stuff or improve reputation in a quantitative way. We have to be tangible.” 

He also said the Omnicom-IPG deal will put “huge pressure” on London-based rival WPP, operating alongside a new, larger and higher-valued competitor. And with consolidation expected to increase in 2025 under the Trump administration, Edelman said he’s only concerned with his firm being the best, not the biggest. 

“I'm worried about Edelman being the best firm. Whatever size other people are is not my primary goal in life,” he said. “I want to be the best and I want clients to love us and give us a lot more business.”