by Herman Manson (@marklives) Quirk will retain its operational independence and current management, says agency founder and CEO, Rob Stokes, even after the conclusion of a deal with WPP, which will see the global communications group take a controlling interest in the digital agency. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval.
Search results for: Publicis Africa
Ad of the Week: Rescue me
by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Most ad agencies adopt causes, but I’d like to single out Ogilvy Cape Town for its support of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and the stellar print campaign that not only publicises what the NSRI does but makes a very clear call to action.
Shelf Life: Imagine … Zilema
Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches: Imagine… Zille & Malema embracing; Provantage relaunches media group; Brandcraft refreshes Fuseware; and Pernod brews new comms strat.
OwenKessel merged with Leo Burnett
by Herman Manson (@marklives) OwenKessel, recently bought out by Publicis Groupe, has been merged with Leo Burnett. The new combined agency will be known as OwenKessel Leo Burnett.
Tech Law: Publicity vs privacy — if you’re a marketer, you won’t like this column
by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) A fairly subtle, and yet fundamental, shift has been underway for a few years now and it is likely to radically change digital marketing if it becomes the norm. This shift isn’t necessarily about users moving from one service to another (although this is indicative of the shift); it is more profound than that. As you may expect, this shift has do with privacy and, if you’re a marketer, you’re not going to like it.
Shelf Life: Spicing up furniture design trends
Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches: latest furniture design trends from Cologne; spicing things up in the kitchen; is nailing a product to a wall actually art; and the sweet smell of success.
The big surf brand wipeout
By Andrew Warren. The “big three” Australian surf brands have found themselves in choppy financial waters.
Billabong, one of Australia’s most iconic surf brands confirmed a $386 million refinancing agreement with US consortium Centerbridge-Oaktree Capital Management acquiring a 40% share, guaranteeing the struggling brand’s short-term future after it posted an $859 million loss last financial year.
Like Billabong, public surf company Quiksilver has reported declining revenues, asset write-downs and growing losses, recently announcing third-quarterly earnings had declined 84%. Privately-owned Rip Curl has also been in profit free-fall. In mid-2012 Rip Curl founders Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick engaged Bank of America Merrill Lynch to help source a prospective buyer for the brand. The planned sale was abandoned in March with a lack of interest at the asking price of $400 million.
The current woes are a long way from the heady days of the 1990s and 2000s, which saw each of the big three surf brands aggressively pursue international expansion and high-profile sports sponsorship deals.
So, why have the Big Three surf brands found themselves struggling? And what is the way to calmer waters?
AdForum Worldwide Summit: A surprise visit from John Wren, Omnicom CEO
by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: Day 5 was quite spectacular as our first meeting was a surprise — John Wren, CEO of Omnicom. The AdForum Worldwide Summit Forum has not seen him for a few years but he accepted the invitation to join and give us an update on the Publicis Omnicom merger.
AdForum Worldwide Summit: What’s on the NYC schedule
by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) NEW YORK CITY: On Saturday, I arrived in the Big Apple for the 2013 AdForum Worldwide Summit New York City, 6-11 October, a “by-invitation-only” programme for agency search and management consultants and global agency CEOs. Our role is to listen, ask questions and keep ourselves informed about what the agencies are doing to identify and embrace new trends, to give feedback and to bring our news back to our home countries to share with our clients and agencies there.
Not a boom, real growth
By Herman Manson (@marklives) The African continent isn’t quite the growth honeypot ad agencies had been hoping for. That said – it’s certainly a growth market. While it doesn’t match the growth rates in Asia or even Latin America, listed agency networks seem to have decided any growth is good growth given the state of especially their European operations. North Africa remains fragile – ZenithOptimedia forecast only 1% growth in ad revenue in the Middle East & North Africa as political turmoil post the Arab Spring continues to rock the region. The company expects 2%-3% annual growth from 2013 to 2015.
Growth in adspend globally is predicted by ZenithOptimedia to hit 4.1% in 2013 and 5.6% in 2015. South Africa will be one of the top ten contributors to that growth between 2012 and 2015.
South Africa in the South, Kenya in the East and either Nigeria or Ghana in the West of Africa generally gets the most buzz from agencies seeking investment in the region.