InspiRAYtion 17 - Will the biggest agency network be the best?

Now that Jaguar has gotten a get out of jail pass with the news of two networks merging, all of ad land is now discussing the Omnicom and Interpublic enshittification.

Sure, you’ll get the biggest network, but will it be the best?

Will they remember they’re in the business of Advertising?

Or will it be a fine attempt at yet another bunch of acronyms, another veil of data and tech and AI blah blah word salad?

I read somewhere on LinkedIn that business transformation figured high up on the list. Among some other absolutely Tech Bro, Consulting Bro and anything but Advertising or Creative Bro stuff.

Very weird isn’t it?

Big and good used to be a thing. Ogilvy under Neil French. JWT under Craig Davis. DDB under Amir Kassaei. Powerful networks that each had a maestro at the helm, making some of the most iconic work ever. (While French and Davis are amazing ad men, check out Amir’s life story it is straight out of a film. I admire the man to have achieved so much despite what he endured.)

And now, rather like WPPs collapse into itself, like a tired Parisienne accordion player at day’s end, the new merged network is going to be a complete bloodbath of layoffs and cost cuts. There’ll be a soulless CEO at the end when the dust settles and the CCO will be some anodyne sort who spouts all the cliches necessary to be appointed to the post, rather than having any passion at all for real work on real clients and the biggest ideas on the biggest brands.

We’ve seen this movie before in short. The Empire Strikes Back.

But this Empire doesn’t even have the vitality, the purpose or the philosophy of the Sith. The only purpose is to make money on the stock market by providing investors the latest buzz words du jour.

In short, this Empire is equivalent to the fag end of the Roman Empire. And we all know how that went down. Or for that matter, how the Sith got blindsided by the Jedi.

Sometimes in life, you have to choose, whether you want to work upon a Death Star or if you’d rather be a Rebel Jedi doing the things that actually matter. Like Steve Jobs said, always a pirate, never the merchant navy.

So, who are the pirates in the biz? The ones for whom Advertising still matters. Brand building still matters. Sales and results and effective creative that persuades matters. I think some good desi examples would be the home grown Famous Innovations next door to us, Talented and TGTHR. Further afield, I’m a huge fan of Anselmos Ramos of Gut. Then there’s Orchard, Layfayette American, Good Conduct, Sukle, Cactus, Humanist, Art & Letters, 72 & Sunny, Quality Meats, Bandolier Media, Mojo and others Stateside, with Mother UK being my favourite Indie agency in Ol’ Blighty.

Young talent used to aspire to get into the big network agency as a form of badge value upon their CVs. Make no mistake, in 2025 it’s increasingly going to be the little piranhas that make the biggest creative impact. And that, is what Advertising does best, to drive sales. RIP Interpublic. It was a good long run, with truth well told. And for young creative, I urge you to watch Return Of The Jedi. Think Small, as Bernbach put it.

Read More: InspiRAYtion Ten: What’s the value of what inspires you?