After dominating news headlines throughout December, and likely well into 2025, it is all still possible for the Omnicom-IPG merger to fall through, repeating history from 2013 when Omnicom failed to merge with Publicis Groupe.

Campaign's editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier sat down in a global exclusive interview with John Wren, CEO of Omnicom, and Philippe Krakowsky, CEO of IPG, after they announced the all-stock deal on 9 December to create the world's biggest agency group. Since then, the share price of Omnicom declined 15%.

In this episode, Spanier is joined by editor Maisie McCabe and media editor Beau Jackson to ask the $31bn question: will the merger really happen?

Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, the team discuss the regulatory obstacles the holdcos need to hurdle, a shrink in share prices, and the potential for divergent performance of Omnicom and IPG in 2025. Is the merger an attempt to "fight scale with scale", says Spanier, to compete with the power of tech companies. The team asks where it leaves R/GA and Huge after being held for sale last year and any signs that adland might see a repeat of the attempted Publicis merger.

Further reading:

The $31bn Omnicom-IPG deal has industrial logic but also many caveats

Omnicom-IPG merger: how the holdcos stack up in the UK

Interpublic sells digital experiences agency Huge

'The industry doesn’t need another behemoth’: Stagwell CEO on Omnicom-IPG

Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun says Omnicom-IPG deal is 'real opportunity'

Omnicom and IPG 'huddling together as cold winds blow': Martin Sorrell

Everything we know so far about the Omnicom-IPG mega merger

Coming up in the Campaign calendar:

Media Week Live, 29 January

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