Consolidation or Collision? How ad land’s mergers create crisis of overlapping of leadership roles

The advertising landscape is being reshaped by a wave of global consolidations. Holding companies like WPP, IPG, Omnicom and Publicis are merging agencies, collapsing hierarchies and rebranding entities, all in the name of efficiency and integration. But behind the scenes, these decisions are upending careers, unsettling teams and revealing deep fractures in the industry's core.

Recent examples are telling: GroupM, WPP’s media investment arm, rebrand to WPP Media is soon about to initiate silent layoffs, particularly among mid to senior-level leadership. Global reports indicate that layoffs are already underway. In addition to that, similar designations in parallel verticals now face duplication, triggering silent turf wars or quiet exits. Co-leadership models, industry veterans point out, are short-lived in practice.

According to insiders, these shake-ups often lead to the painful rationalisation of “overlapping leadership”, roles that are rendered redundant once structures are merged. In practice, this means hard-won designations are dissolved and years of brand and agency building are erased in boardroom spreadsheets.

“Let’s call it what it is,” says Soumitra Karnik, independent creative consultant. “These so-called consolidation exercises should be viewed as a public display of massive business management F-ups, dressed up as bold strategic moves.”

He paints a vivid picture of what happens next. “Overlapping leadership is nothing but ‘ek myaan mein do talwarein nahin reh sakti.’ And more often than not, it’s the sharper sword that gets discarded.”

“In almost every consolidation, the first move is to trim senior roles,” said Tarun Rai, Co-Chairman, Start Design Group. “While it's presented as integration or simplification for clients, the real driver is cost. And in an industry where 70-75% of expenses are people, that cost-saving comes from cutting leadership.”

Gautam Reghunath, CEO of indie agency Talented, summed it up sharply. “When two agencies become one, someone from the same level tends to get erased. The decision reflects political capital, P&L dominance or simple alignment with global structures. Without thoughtful integration, mergers become acts of erasure, not evolution.”

In many instances, CXOs with 20–25 years of experience suddenly find themselves out of work—displaced in an advertising industry that currently has no room for talent at their level. Even those with decades of loyal service are often let go with nothing more than the standard three-month notice.

It’s common practice, and it’s legally sound. But is it fair? For someone who’s dedicated ten or fifteen years to a company—helped shape its reputation, mentored colleagues, and guided countless campaigns—three months can feel like a dismissal of their entire legacy.

Rai notes that, at the global level, the decision-making isn't even about individuals anymore—it’s about eliminating "positions." These directives often come from the top, with little room for discussion and an immediate demand for results.

"I think it is utopian to expect anything more than what is in the employee contract. It is a pity, as I strongly believe, that how a company manages an 'exit’ says so much about its culture. And yes, the irony is that in a 'people's' business and in a business whose job is to build brands, we seem to be pretty nonchalant about both."

Creative Leadership: A Casualty of Cost Cuts

Rai, former Chairman and Group CEO of Wunderman Thompson South Asia, believes the consolidation trend has been years in the making.

“Holding companies have continued to acquire agencies without a clear strategy for integrating them. The result was inevitable - overlapping roles, bloated structures, internal competition and turf wars.”

While these moves are often rationalised as efforts to provide clients with “seamless integration,” the reality on the ground tells a different story. Employees, especially those in creative leadership, are finding themselves either stripped of relevance or edged out entirely.

“The industry has chosen to lose the people who fight for long shots, who protect the idea from the spreadsheet,” Karnik says.

“Creative leaders have become line items -'nice to have' but not essential. Execution trumps imagination.”

Who Stays, Who Goes?

In most of these consolidations, who ends up staying at the helm often depends less on merit and more on familiarity, political capital and negotiating strength.

Arun Iyer, co-founder of Spring Marketing Capital and former Lowe Lintas chief, has observed this dynamic up close.

“People tend to gravitate towards those they know and can trust. Familiarity often dictates who survives the shake-up.”

“Titles, when earnestly earned, carry a certain emotional weight. Losing one can feel like losing your identity,” says Karnik.

“The industry, ironically, struggles to communicate its own truth,” he adds.

This is not just one agency's story. Consolidations are sweeping across the global ad industry at a high cost.

Naresh Gupta, Co-founder of Bang in the Middle points out that the cost of consolidation is being borne by talent.

"Creative leadership has become a number on the P&L sheet, and the cultural cost of that is severe. Clients notice when the sharpest minds are missing from the table.”

Indeed, as network agencies realign their hierarchies, leadership roles are increasingly treated as expendable. Jitendra Dabas, CEO, Cheil X, reflects on the larger cultural shift: “There is an increasing shift from craft and creativity to efficiency and execution."

He adds, "When networks reduce leadership to cost centers, they lose the edge that made their work memorable and influential.”

What Happens Next? A Shrinking Talent Pipeline

The consequence of all this is a creative drain. “We have never had so much brilliant young talent like now. So no, the industry is not running out of talent, it has run out of reasons for good talent to stay,” says Karnik.

“This is a colossal business model collapse.”

Freed from the legacy systems and corporate bloat, many former agency leaders are now building smaller, sharper independent firms.

There are long-term repercussions too.

“There was a time when advertising was the natural career choice for creative professionals. Now, with so many alternative career paths, better candidates are choosing to go elsewhere,” Iyer notes.

Younger professionals are entering a job market marked by shrinking opportunities and growing uncertainty. And those who are already in the system are disillusioned by a lack of growth, mentorship or recognition.

As Iyer puts it, “The truth is, agencies today are execution partners to marketers. The deep relationships agencies once had with brands are fractured. Legacy names don’t mean much anymore.”

This isn't just about layoffs or rebrands. It’s about what the industry is choosing to become, and what it’s losing in the process. When creative leadership is discarded in favour of cost efficiency, the soul of the industry begins to erode, an executive with a network firm sums up his views and emotions.

"We have not been paying our people enough and yet we need to save more costs! Frankly, by not addressing the real issue of revenue growth, we are going to be even less attractive to quality talent. It is a very slippery slope," Rai adds.

Regunath points out that mid-level talent is oversupplied. Entry-level hiring is cautious. And senior roles are shrinking. There’s now a generation of professionals stuck between too much experience and too few openings.

"This is reaching scary levels. Agencies would rather train fresh talent in digital than reskill legacy staff. For mid-career folks who haven’t pivoted into digital, content, or performance, it’s a tough landscape. The real risk is that we’re hollowing out the middle. And in five years, agencies might find themselves with too many juniors and not enough bridge talent. The people who used to connect strategy to execution are leaving or being priced out."

So while holding companies continue their predictable loop of mergers and reorgs, the real creative revolution may already be underway, outside their boardrooms, in studios where integrity, agility and originality are not just buzzwords, but the business model.