So Publicis has bought Saatchi & Saatchi.
That should make for an interesting marriage, given the difference in
cultural styles that both agencies have.
What is more interesting is the big picture.
Will advertising eat itself?
Watching all these mergers and buy-outs take place is like watching
someone play Pacman; you can almost hear a steady chomping sound as the
big swallow the small in pursuit of strengths and market advantages.
The pendulum appears to have swung completely in the other direction
from where it was less than a decade ago.
Back in the early '90s, it was all about spinning off creative hotshops,
DM boutiques, specialisation and so on.
Then came the mid to late '90s, and suddenly everyone was getting
excited about media independents, agencies starting organising and
having off their in-house media operations and everyone starting to
argue over whose way was the best.
Most of the buy-outs, mergers or alliances which are taking place today
aim to keep intact the individual personalities and styles of the agency
networks involved, pointing to how WPP manages to keep the identities of
JWT, O&M and all its other communications houses separate and
distinct.
Having said that, if the intention was to change nothing, then why
bother to buy at all?
Okay, perhaps the dominant network is hoping that some of the polish and
verve of its acquisition will rub off.
But in the end, what is it really all about? Someone must know the
truth, because to spend billions of dollars on a whim would just be too
hard to fathom.
Another thing to think about is that while the advertising industry is
busy buying itself over, many major clients are going in the opposite
direction and decentralising.
Could this be just another phase that the world is going through?
Where will it take us all?
Where will it end?
Whatever the big picture turns out to be - let's hope it's not like a
Monet, which is exquisite when viewed from a distance, but when seen up
close it's just a mess - the journey is going to be an intriguing
one ... a magical mystery tour of sorts.
Someone predicted that the 21st century was going to be one hell of a
ride. Let's hope they're right.
