These groundbreaking mergers and acquisitions shook the ad industry in 2023

2023 has been an interesting year for the advertising industry. We saw plenty of social media trends that took the internet by storm, legacy brands rebranding and the term "AI" taking the world by storm. 

Closer to the adland space, leaders moved up the ranks to become newly appointed CMOs, whilst new agencies have cropped up to disrupt the industry. Additionally, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE also tracked a number of significant mergers and acquisitions of agencies throughout the year that have made waves. 

With that, MARKETING-INTERACTIVE looks back on five mergers and acquisitions that shook the industry this year. 

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1. dentsu acquires Tag Worldwide

In March, Dentsu Group acquired global omnichannel digital marketing production powerhouse Tag Worldwide after entering into an agreement with Advent International. Tag Worldwide become dentsu's sixth network brand and will retain its brand for the foreseeable future. 

According to dentsu, Tag’s digital infrastructure and services will provide high quality content at speed and scale for creative, a scaled personalisation engine for customer experience management (CXM), as well as add power to media dynamic content optimisation (DCO).

The acquisition bolstered dentsu’s creative digital production capabilities, adding 2,800 colleagues located across 29 countries around the world, with one global production hub and ten specialist hubs. This allowed dentsu to serve global brands across the entire customer journey. 

2. Juicebox acquires stake in Island Media

Digital agency Juicebox acquired a major shareholding in Island Media in November. Island Media is a branding and digital agency in Indonesia.

The merger marks a significant leap for Juicebox, giving it the ability to expand its capabilities and the capacity of both teams, as well as creating new collaborative pathways for innovation that will ultimately translate into superior client engagements and outcomes. 

In tandem, the merger provides Juicebox a fusion of diverse talents, multicultural perspectives and regional market insights to drive a new era of innovation and creativity in the continued pursuit of excellence.

3. M&C Saatchi merges SG operations with MY arm

In November, it was announced that M&C Saatchi Singapore's advertising arm will be merging its business with its Malaysia branch as the agency looks to make operations "more aligned". The team will be led by CEO Lara Hussein. 

Under Hussein's leadership, the agency will be more focused on its clients and partners and will continue to evolve its offering. The Singapore office was previously run by Madina Kalyayeva and Ali Shabaz.

4. Omnicom acquires Ptarmigan Media

Omnicom Media Group acquired Ptarmigan Media earlier this July.

Together, Omnicom and Ptarmigan plan to help their clients effectively navigate the market to drive business growth by combining the global strength, tools and technologies of Omnicom Media Group, and the deep category expertise Ptarmigan has built over its three decades working in the financial sector. 

The acquisition will enable an unprecedented and singular depth of financial services industry expertise and media buying scale, translating to better outcome for Omnicom's clients, increased professional opportunities and accelerated growth. 

5. WPP merges Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R

After merging VML and Y&R to form VMLY&R, WPP merged the new agency with Wunderman Thompson to form VML.

Set to begin operations from 1 January 2024, VML will be led by Jon Cook as global CEO and Mel Edwards as its global president. Immediate leadership appointments include Debbi Vandeven as global chief creative officer, Eric Campbell as global chief client officer and Audrey Kuah and Yi-Chung Tay as co-CEOs APAC to name a few.

Through the merger, VML will be equipped to support clients on creative brand growth strategy and transformation initiatives, all powered by data operations, technology platforms and partnerships with experienced technology companies.

VML will also provide offerings for healthcare companies and B2B marketers. The combined company will have more than 30,000 people in 64 markets.

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