AD Agencies
Omnicom swallows Interpublic—and 4,000 jobs could vanish with it, says FT
NEW YORK: The gloves are off at Omnicom. Five days after closing its $13 billion acquisition of rival Interpublic Group, the world’s newly minted advertising behemoth has unveiled plans to axe more than 4,000 employees and shutter several well-known agency brands, according to the Financial Times.
The culling comes as John Wren, chairman and chief executive, attempts to weld together what he’s calling the industry’s “most comprehensive and connected portfolio of capabilities”. Translation: a sprawling empire of creative shops, media networks and data firms now united under Omni, Omnicom’s AI-powered intelligence platform, which the company reckons will give clients an edge in a privacy-first, cookie-less world.
The new structure places seven executives at the helm of what Omnicom is branding “Connected Capabilities”. Florian Adamski takes charge of Omnicom Media, corralling agencies including OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science, plus data giant Acxiom. Troy Ruhanen inherits Omnicom Advertising, home to BBDO, McCann and TBWA. Duncan Painter will run both Omni and Flywheel Commerce Network. Chris Foster leads public relations, Sergio Lopez handles production, and Michael Larson oversees diversified agency services.
Beneath them sit more chiefs: Dana Maiman running Omnicom Health, Mark O’Brien steering Omnicom Branding (Interbrand, Wolff Olins and others), and Luke Taylor commanding Omnicom Precision Marketing. Jacki Kelley and Andrea Lennon will manage client success, whilst George Manas—currently running OMD Worldwide until February—takes on enterprise-wide growth and new business.
Omnicom is pitching five “strategic advantages” to justify the upheaval: the world’s largest media network, superior creative firepower turbocharged by generative AI, integrated commerce capabilities, enterprise-scale AI investment, and what it calls “identity leadership”—a privacy-compliant alternative to third-party cookies built on 2.6 billion verified global IDs.
Early client feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive,” the company insists. It plans a grand unveiling at CES 2026 in Las Vegas this January, followed by year-end earnings in February and an investor day shortly after. As a show of confidence, Omnicom bumped its dividend to $0.80 per share on 26 November.
But the timing is brutal. The advertising industry faces what some are calling an existential crisis as artificial intelligence rewrites the rules of creative production and tech giants like Meta make it absurdly easy for businesses to generate ads at scale and speed. Omnicom’s bet is that size, data and AI prowess will insulate it from the storm. The 4,000 people losing their jobs might beg to differ. Welcome to intelligent growth, Omnicom-style.
AD Agencies
Publicis Brazil’s creative chief Mauro Ramalho lands the jury chair at Abby Awards 2026
Mauro Ramalho brings 25 years of global advertising firepower to the new creative commerce, use of data and B2B category at Goafest
GOA: The Abby Awards 2026, powered by The One Club and The One Show, has appointed Mauro Ramalho, chief creative officer of Publicis Brazil, as jury chair for its newly launched creative commerce, use of data and B2B category. The announcement, made on 18 March, signals the awards’ intent to bring serious international muscle to a category that sits squarely at the intersection of creativity and commercial performance.
Ramalho is not a name that needs much introduction in global advertising circles. Over 25 years spanning three countries, he has worked at some of the industry’s most creatively restless addresses. At AKQA in San Francisco, he worked across McDonald’s, Nike, Fox, Target, Kraft Foods and GAP, and helped lead “The Lost Ring” for McDonald’s, one of the first alternate reality campaigns and among the most awarded projects of its era. He later moved to Organic in Toronto, bridging the Detroit and Toronto offices on Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler, before spending over a decade building CUBOCC into one of Brazil’s most iconic and innovative independent agencies, which subsequently joined the IPG network.
A stint at FCB followed, where Ramalho led integrated work bridging online and offline, before he joined R/GA São Paulo as vice-president and executive creative director, stitching together the São Paulo office with New York, London, Portland and California on global clients including Verizon, Google, Meta, Samsung, American Express and Heineken. He now heads Publicis Brazil as its chief creative officer.
His trophy cabinet includes Clios, Effies, TikTok awards and MMA Smarties, and he has served on juries at the Andys, TikTok and the Lisbon Awards.
The Abby Awards 2026 is scheduled to take place at Goafest 2026 on 20, 21 and 22 May in Goa.
For Indian advertising, landing a jury chair of Ramalho’s calibre for a category built around data-driven creativity and commerce is a statement of ambition. Goafest just raised its own bar.
