Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade in which we talk to the two key players behind Publicis Group’s purchase of independent Media agency Atomic 212.

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Capabilities and conflict: Why Publicis bought Atomic 212

Last week’s news that Australia’s biggest media agency Atomic 212 had been sold was not a huge surprise. The agency had been rumoured to be considering offers for some time.

What was a little more surprising though was the buyer. Despite rumours that consultancy Accenture was in the frame, holding company Publicis Group emerged as the winner.

It ran counter to the trend of holdcos in retreat and consolidating their number of agency brands.

In today’s audio-led conversation, Atomic 212 chairman Barry O’Brien and Publicis Group’s ANZ CEO Michael Rebelo discuss with Tim Burrowes the rationale for the deal.

O’Brien acknowledges the ups and downs of the agency’s journey, including when Atomic’s client, retail chain Dick Smith went into administration, leaving its agency potentially owing media companies millions of dollars.

“When we first kicked off, Dick Smith went belly up and left $400-odd million of debt right around Australia.

“As a young agency, we were left with a considerable amount of that. That was a pretty dark time.”

The agency also faced a reputation crisis when Mumbrella revealed that former boss Jason Dooris had been cheating in award entries. Dooris eventually left the business. O’Brien says, dryly, “It was not a highlight.”

Meanwhile, Rebelo explains the rationale for the acquisition at a time when many groups are trimming their rosters. Capabilities and client conflict are two of the factors.

When he built a three year plan for his group in 2023, “acquisition of a media agency like Atomic was literally one of our top strategic priorities,” reveals Rebelo.

“What we were looking at with Atomic was how can we supercharge what we've already got? What we like to curate and cultivate in the group are specialized weapons in terms of the agencies in how they can help our clients solve their marketing problems. And Atomic represented an independent agency with really sophisticated capabilities.”

Rebelo, insists that unlike previous acquisition Match, which is these days folded in to Spark Foundry, Atomic will remain as its own brand. “Conflict and managing conflict is still a big part of the market and the industry. So we are fortunate to have those independent brands that can manage different agencies across the verticals. Having another media brand to take on and help us manage that is certainly a benefit to this.”

Time to leave you to your Monday. Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.

We’ll be back with more soon.

Toodlepip…

Tim Burrowes

Publisher - Unmade

[email protected]

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