Two announcements this week have bemused but perhaps not surprised me. And they reflect the changing nature of the relationship between media agency and media owner, not all of which is healthy.
-
Authors
Who can afford to blink first? WPP or C4
It has been reported in the Evening Standard and The Daily Telegraph that WPP and Channel 4 have reached an impasse in their re-negotiation of the deal done between the two companies two years ago, which runs out at the end of this month .
Martin Sorrell and the Philosopher’s stone…the transformation of the agency model.
Last week Publicis announced that Vivaki would be hived off as a separate business unit. What should we call Vivaki? In the publicity material they say ‘’VivaKi has already initiated and expanded the power of partnerships with Google, Facebook, Microsoft, AOL and many other players for Publicis Groupe, and it has delivered innovative products and services including The Pool and Audience on Demand (AOD).’’ A separate business unit now described on their website as an ‘enabling framework’’.
Read more »
There’s no such thing as a victimless crime
There’s a ‘fin de siècle’ feeling in the air of industry. Banking and Newspaper Publishing are at the heart of the storm, in the eyes of the politicians and public alike. It’s not a great time to be a banker or a newspaper executive. Read more »
Can the Media Lions ever roar?
I didn’t go to Cannes this year or indeed for any year since 1999. Then I went as a judge of the Media Lions. I felt I was gate crashing someone else’s party (full of achingly cool people)and when I entered the darkened judging room it seemed like a movie in even parts inspired by the 70’s sitcom Mind Your Language and the classic thriller 12 Angry Men. Needless to say I modelled myself on Henry Fonda, not John Alderton.
Read more »
