Faced with the merger of its two biggest rivals, WPP’s media unit expressed doubts that its buying clout will be eclipsed.
Dominic Proctor, president of GroupM, said in a statement that the merger announced by Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Sunday was “an interesting move,” but questioned whether it will be able to achieve its goals.
“They are making it clear that a primary motive for the merger is achieving scale in media buying. However, neither Omnicom nor Publicis was able to bring their investment teams together effectively as individual companies, so it will be fun to see if they can now do it together. Getting scale in media investment management is critical for clients, but it only works if it all joins up,” Proctor said.
“We welcome a competitor in this space. Media investment management relies heavily on scale, but scale counts for nothing if it continues to be disparate,” he added.
