Agencies
State of Play
Revised Nov 1, 2026The moment. The holding companies reported, and the gap between them is the story. Campaign’s Elena Lewis has Omnicom’s organic revenue up 7.2% in Q3, from 6.1% in Q2 and 3.9% in Q1, with core revenue up 7% to $6.01 billion. Adweek’s Alison Weissbrot has WPP’s revenue less pass-through costs down 2.1% to $3.2 billion, narrower than Q2’s 2.8% decline, with WPP Media back to 0.3% growth for the first time in six quarters. Omnicom took Coca-Cola’s North America media account, which leaves Coke and PepsiCo having effectively swapped agencies in that market; WPP Media won Transport for London’s account, worth about fifty million pounds. The executive moves ran the same direction: McCann made Andrés Ordóñez global chairman, Publicis named Scott Hagedorn the first CEO of its Marcel AI platform, and Stagwell bought Freestar and put James Denton-Clark in charge of Europe.
The tension. The holdcos are moving onto the other side of the trade. Digiday’s Ronan Shields reads Stagwell’s Freestar deal as putting buying and selling under one roof, and Publicis now owns LiveRamp under an FTC firewall, so the firms that audit media are increasingly the firms that sell it. The way business is won has fragmented too: Digiday’s Seb Joseph finds no common pitch shape left across the earnings calls. Buyers are pushing Q4 money into social, video and retail media, and Digiday’s Sam Bradley has NBA linear and streaming inventory all but sold out across Peacock, Amazon and Disney for the 2026–27 season, which sends brands toward creators by default rather than by plan.
Who’s moving. Omnicom, at 7.2% organic. WPP, narrowing its decline to 2.1%. Coca-Cola, moving North America to Omnicom. WPP Media, on Transport for London. Stagwell, buying Freestar. James Denton-Clark, to Stagwell Europe. McCann’s Andrés Ordóñez, to global chairman. Publicis’s Scott Hagedorn, to Marcel. Skydance’s Jay Askinasi, on a unified ad organization. Media buyers, on an NBA season all but sold out. The American Entertainment Alliance, backing a 20% federal production incentive as a first step. Walmart, building its Q4 around a Muppets parody.
What the desk is watching. Whether Dentsu lands nearer Omnicom’s 7.2% or WPP’s 2.1%, and whether Stagwell’s clients ask which side of the Freestar trade they are on.
Omnicom wins Coke’s North America media; WPP keeps global account
Adweek’s Christopher Cicchiello reports that WPP retained Coca-Cola’s global media account while Omnicom won the North American business, following two separate competitive reviews.
Political ad buyers find national NFL spots cheaper than local TV
TVREV’s Tim Hanlon reports that Senate Republican-aligned PACs bought national ad time on FOX’s and ABC’s NFL and college football broadcasts to reach Texas voters, rather than purchasing pricier local spots in Dallas and Houston.
Fox Advertising extends agentic AI tools to live and linear inventory
TV Tech’s Tom Butts reports that Fox Advertising is expanding its agentic AI capabilities beyond digital to cover live and linear inventory, extending automated planning and buying tools across its full advertising footprint rather than just streaming and on-demand placements.
Aldi and McCann Manchester end 20-year agency relationship
Campaign’s Charlotte Rawlings reports that Aldi and McCann Manchester are parting ways after a relationship spanning more than 20 years. The article is paywalled, so the reason for the split and the account’s next steps are not yet detailed.
Publicis, WPP headcounts diverge even as both lift revenue per employee
Ad Age’s Jess Nagamoto reports that Publicis and WPP took opposite paths on staffing last year, with one holding company adding thousands of employees while the other cut even more.
Coinbase drops Wavemaker for indie shop Noble People after five years
Ad Age’s Ewan Larkin reports that Coinbase ended its five-year media agency relationship with WPP’s Wavemaker, moving its business to the far smaller independent shop Noble People.
FTC clears Publicis’ $2.2B LiveRamp deal with neutrality conditions
Adweek’s Christopher Cicchiello reports that the FTC has approved Publicis Groupe’s $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp, closing a key regulatory hurdle. The order imposes five-year guardrails requiring firewalls so Publicis cannot access competitors’ customer data through LiveRamp’s platform.
Kite Factory buying chief: CTV transparency matters more than price in agency deals
VideoWeek’s Dan Meier interviews The Kite Factory’s Gregor Chalmers, who argues agencies are shifting from transactional pricing toward genuine partnerships, and warns that CTV’s digitisation has let bad actors exploit TV’s trusted reputation.
Ritson: Meta is reselling marketers the TV playbook it once mocked
The Drum’s Mark Ritson writes that Meta used its Brand Building Summit to unveil ad products built on classic reach-and-frequency brand-building principles, the same TV logic it spent years telling marketers to abandon.
Adweek names 2026 Agency of the Year shortlist
Adweek is reporting that it has revealed the 2026 Agency of the Year shortlist, spanning categories from Global Creative to Independent Media, with Gold, Silver and Bronze winners set to publish in Adweek’s December issue on December 8.
Second-tier holdcos jockey for position behind the Big Three
Digiday’s Michael Bürgi reports that consultants now group Dentsu, Havas, Horizon, Stagwell and independents like Brandtech, Dept, Tinuiti and PMG as a forming second tier, even as S4 Capital leans on AI to rebuild Monks.
Omnicom Media names Sandra Sotelo PHD EMEA chief executive
Campaign’s Ben Bold reports that Omnicom Media has appointed Sandra Sotelo as chief executive of PHD EMEA, a senior leadership move at the agency’s regional operation. The article is paywalled and does not detail her prior role or start date.
IPA data: ROI is up 4% since Covid, but profit from campaigns fell 11%
The Media Leader’s Catherine Offord argues that AV planning has splintered as budgets chased fast, measurable returns, citing IPA Databank research from Les Binet and Will Davis.
DC Thomson picks agency for three brands
Campaign’s Eszter Gurbicz reports that Beano owner DC Thomson has appointed an agency to handle work across three of its brands, following a competitive pitch process.
Publicis posts 25th straight quarter of outperformance, holds full-year guidance
MediaPost’s Steve McClellan reports that Publicis Groupe grew net revenue 7.9% to 3.8 billion euros in Q3, with 5% organic growth, and reaffirmed full-year guidance of 4.5% to 5%.
MSQ names Stagwell’s James Townsend as new group CEO
MediaPost’s Steve McClellan reports that MSQ has named James Townsend group CEO, succeeding Peter Reid, who moves to executive chairman, with Townsend arriving from Stagwell where he ran Stagwell EMEA and the Brand Performance Network.
Wayfair goes long on football with a family-first spot
eMarketer’s Christopher Wood reports that Wayfair is running a family-focused ad during football programming, betting that a softer, home-and-family creative angle will resonate more than a hard-sell pitch during the high-viewership sports window.
USGA names Gupta Media as paid media agency of record
MediaPost’s Steve McClellan reports that the USGA picked Gupta Media as its paid media AOR after a competitive pitch, replacing Carmichael Lynch to drive ticket sales for upcoming U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open events.
Media sellers consolidate across UK, Japan, Germany and China
Madison and Wall reports this week’s international news centered on who controls premium media inventory sales, citing the UK weighing intervention in Sky’s ITV deal, Japan’s top networks forming a joint ad-trading company, and German publishers filing for a shared sales house.
Nagmeh Taheri lands growth role at Stagwell
Campaign’s Lucy Shelley reports that Nagmeh Taheri has landed a growth-focused role at Stagwell, though the article’s paywall limits available detail on her exact title and remit.
LERMA/ wins Real California Milk account
MediaPost’s Steve McClellan reports that LERMA/ was named agency of record for Real California Milk, the consumer brand of the California Milk Advisory Board, after a competitive review led by Mercer Island Group.
WARC: Big Tech’s ad-to-sales ratio nearly halves as revenue surges
Campaign US reports that WARC Media’s “Global Ad Trends” study found the world’s 25 biggest advertisers spending a shrinking share of revenue on ads.
Holdcos still chasing CEOs, two decades after the courtship began
Digiday’s Seb Joseph reports that Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun’s claim of pitching directly to CEOs reignited debate over whether holdcos have ever truly broken into the C-suite, a goal they’ve chased since 2008 by buying data and consulting shops.
Channel 4 preps ‘Instant Reach’ bundle as Paramount sales deal takes shape
The Media Leader’s Jack Benjamin and Charli West report that Channel 4 unveiled “Instant Reach,” a new ad product bundling premium linear, streaming and YouTube inventory.
Dentsu pushes brands to treat entertainment as its own budget line
Digiday’s Seb Joseph reports that Dentsu’s global entertainment head Cathy Boxall wants brands spending bigger sums on branded entertainment, calling it a flywheel built off Dentsu’s investments in IP.