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opinion
This week's announcement that WPP will be acquiring Grey is dismal news indeed for the advertising industry. Not because it eliminates one last competitor that clients can choose from, but because WPP is the epitome of bureaucracy (1). In case you weren't aware, WPP has an organizational structure that requires no less than 20 powerpoint slides to describe. It does this, it claims, to avoid client conflicts. I believe the structure is the way it is to cater to the massive egos WPP has acquired in the last 20 years. Grey's structure is impressively simple: one parent with its agencies all reporting directly to it. In fact, it's one of the points Ed Meyer, CEO of Grey is most proud of rubbing in the faces of all his former competitors.
Oh well, at least we can expect one positive thing from these mega-mergers: they will produce an unprecedented number of boutiques formed by creatives trying to escape the bureaucracy.
Write to Al Berrios at editor@alberrios.com
1 "The
Problem With Ad Agencies"
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