Advertising giants Omnicom, Publicis announce merger

Two international advertising powerhouses, Omnicom Group, based in New York, and Publicis Groupe, based in France, announced plans to merge Sunday. The proposed merger will create the largest family of ad agencies in the world and have a stock market value of $35.1 billion, The New York Times reported. Once approved by U.S. and French regulators, the new company will include major firms such as Leo Burnett, and Saatchi-and-Saatchi. Its client portfolio included McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Omnicon Chief Executive Officer John Wren and Publicis Chairman and CEO Maurice Levy will serve as co-chief executives for at least the near term. A key to the merger plan is the current evolution of so-called big data, the Times said. The introduction of massive flows of information about consumers has blurred the historic lines in the ad industry and required firms to provide a wider range of digital services. "Omnicom and Publicis Groupe are reshaping the industry by setting a new standard for supporting clients with integrated messaging across marketing disciplines and geographies," Wren said in a written statement. Copyright 2013 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.