Publicis, Omnicom agree to merge; would become world's largest agency

Tom Paine

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Publicis and Omnicom announced this morning (pdf) that they have agreed to merge, creating the world's largest advertising company. Publicis is based in Paris, Omnicom in New York.

Publicis Omnicom Group had combined 2012 revenue of $22.7 billion and would have a market capitalization of $35.1 billion. It will move far ahead of WPP, which until now has been the largest agency. The deal is expected to face regulatory scrutiny in both the US and Europe.

In the Philadelphia area, Publicis has a heavy concentration of digital agencies, particularly in healthcare. They include Philly-based Digitas Health and Razorfish Healthware, and other units operating under the Publicis and Saatchi & Saatchi names based in Yardley. Publicis acquired Princeton-based digital agency Rosetta, which also has a strong healthcare practice but serves a broader spectrum of industries, for $575 million in 2011.

I don't have a complete reading on what assets Omnicom has in the Philadelphia area. TPG is a direct marketing group based here. Omnicom's DDB Health acquired Philadelphia-based healthcare communications agency Synergy in 2011. CDM Princeton is a healthcare marketing agency. I'm sure other Omnicom brands have offices or people in the area, although I haven't spotted anything else significant yet.

Ad Age provides more information on what the combined agency would
look like.
.