Brands
FutureBrand’s global CEO and top team walk out as IPG–Omnicom deal nears
LONDON: Nick Sykes has quit as global chief executive of FutureBrand after 15 years steering the strategy and design shop, with his entire executive team following suit. The departures mark a seismic shake-up for Interpublic Group as it inches closer to completion of its transformative merger with Omnicom.
Gone are global chief creative officer Gianni Tozzi, global chief strategy officer Jon Tipple, people and culture director Katy Nunn, global chief growth officer Lauren Maynard, and executive assistant Louise Nelson. All but Tozzi, who worked from Milan, operated out of London.
The purge coincides with FutureBrand’s formal eviction from McCann Worldgroup. Staff will now report directly to their respective McCann offices, with the London contingent moving under McCann U.K.’s wing. The agency, which counts about 60 employees in the capital, has serviced clients including World Athletics Ultimate Championship and SCI Ventures.
Sykes joined FutureBrand in 2010 as managing director before ascending to global CEO in 2019, having previously headed up McCann Worldgroup. Tozzi spent 17 years at the agency, climbing from executive creative director in 2008 to global CCO last year. Tipple logged 13 years and also served as head of planning at McCann London for three years. Nunn arrived in 2019 as senior people manager for Europe before being promoted to people and culture director in 2021. Maynard, who spent less than two years at FutureBrand, previously held the post of EVP and global managing director for McCann Worldgroup’s advisory services. Nelson clocked a decade at the agency and earlier worked at TBWALondon.
A McCann spokesperson said the overhaul would bring FutureBrand “into closer alignment with McCann,” asserting that design and brand experience now occupy the front and centre of modern brand-building. “Nick and his leadership team have left FutureBrand in a position of strength as a globally respected authority on brand design. We’re grateful for the impact they’ve had on our company and our clients.”
FutureBrand U.K. operates from the same London building as McCann, McCann Worldgroup and Weber Shandwick. In July, MullenLowe Global joined the party, while MullenLowe U.K. decamped to Old Bailey, home to FCB London and IPG Mediabrands. In the United States, FutureBrand operated under Dxtra, IPG’s PR and specialist communications arm.
Both FutureBrand and IPG have stonewalled on the departures. The timing is anything but coincidental—Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic is expected to close imminently, spawning the world’s largest advertising holding company from the wreckage of two industry titans. As the deal nears the finish line, expect more heads to roll.
Brands
Uber launches hotel bookings feature in partnership with Expedia
From hotel bookings to room service at your door, the ride-hailing giant is making its boldest push yet into everyday life
CALIFORNIA: Uber is done being just a taxi app. At its annual GO-GET product event, the world’s leading mobility and delivery platform unveiled a sweeping set of new features designed to plant itself at the centre of how people travel, eat and shop, hotel bookings included.
The headline move is a partnership with Expedia Group that lets Uber users in the United States book hotels directly within the Uber app, with access to a catalogue that will eventually grow to more than 700,000 properties worldwide. Uber One members get 10 per cent back in Uber One credits on all hotel bookings and savings of at least 20 per cent on a rolling list of more than 10,000 hotels globally. Vacation rentals from Vrbo, Expedia Group’s home-rental brand, will be added later this year. The partnership is expected to expand beyond the United States. From June, Uber rides will also be integrated directly into the Expedia app, with push notifications sent to travellers ahead of hotel check-in to book discounted Uber rides for the duration of their stay.
Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, framed the expansion in terms of the modern condition. “Uber is becoming an app for everything, helping people go, get, and now travel all in one place,” he said. “We’re all living through a moment of real cognitive overload: too many apps, too many decisions, too much noise. At the end of the day, our job is to help people reclaim their time, spending less of it managing the logistics of life and more of it actually living.”
Ariane Gorin, chief executive of Expedia Group, struck a similarly ambitious note. “Travel should feel effortless, and this partnership gets us one step closer to offering a seamless traveller experience,” she said. “By connecting our two-sided marketplace with Uber, we’re bringing Uber rides directly into the Expedia app and Expedia Group’s lodging inventory into the Uber app through our Rapid API technology. Together, we’re helping travellers spend less time planning and more time enjoying the journey.”
Beyond hotels, the product announcements come thick and fast. Travel Mode, available within both the Uber and Uber Eats apps, offers curated recommendations on local favourites, tourist destinations, OpenTable restaurant reservations and on-demand delivery to hotel rooms. Uber One International means the membership programme now works globally, allowing members to earn credits on rides abroad that can be redeemed once back home. A new Shop for Me feature lets users request items from any store, even those not listed on the app. Eats for the Way allows riders in select cities booking an Uber Black or Uber Black SUV to have a drink or snack waiting for them in the car. Voice Bookings, powered by artificial intelligence, lets users book a ride conversationally, without touching their phone. And a redesigned One Search bar consolidates results for places, food and items across the entire Uber platform in a single query.
Uber has now logged more than 72 billion trips since it launched in 2010. The question it is now answering is what comes after the ride. The answer, apparently, is everything else. Whether users want a hotel in Paris, a coffee in the back of a car or a snake plant from the local garden centre, Uber would very much like to be the one to provide it. The app economy’s land grab has a new front-runner.
NOTE: The image used is AI generated and only for representational purposes.
