Omnicom’s plan to acquire Interpublic Group is a long way from being finalized. However, the combined company could help the holding companies make — and benefit from — larger AI investments.
On a Monday call with investors about the deal, executives from both companies mentioned ways the merged company could benefit from combining resources. Omnicom CEO John Wren said businesses need to continue investments to “stay on the cutting edge” adding both clients – and agency employees – will benefit from investing more into AI efforts.
“If Interpublic was three quarters of our size, yesterday I had $1 to invest in those efforts, now I have $1.67 to invest in those efforts,” Wren said. “It should make me more agile, it should make me take great investment risks in testing new technologies and platforms as they come along — all to benefit from better information, more accurate information, so our real knowledge workers and whatever craft they lie in are going to have the best tools to service those clients.”
The means for more AI spending could come from money saved. The companies — which estimate having at least $750 million in synergies to be saved — plan to explore some of it being reinvested into AI investments, future acquisitions or internal development.
On a call with investors, IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky said the merger will help Omnicom invest and innovate faster and let tech investments pay out across a bigger footprint. He also joked about it’s nice being the big dog for once: “Traveling in packs helps,” he said. (Earlier this year, IPG had planned to invest at least $80 million into AI in 2024.)
One part of the plan is combining Omnicom’s Omni and IPG’s Interact behavior tools, IPG’s Acxiom identity layer and Omnicom’s Flywheel for transactions.
Others say Omnicom could integrate AI into IPG’s creative agencies. Axciom’s data combined with existing assets like the Omni platform could enhance Omnicom’s creative offerings by leveraging AI to improve media buying efficiency and create personalized, data-driven ads. That could depend on where Axciom is placed within the merged company, noted one former media agency exec. Wil