The Fourth of July week is generally a sleepy one when it comes to PR news. That’s why this blogger was jolted out of his snooze yesterday by blockbuster announcements from Publicis Groupe and WPP Group.
Frenchman Maurice Levy made a move on the legendary Gershon Kekst. Kekst & Co., which was among the most powerful financial firms on Wall Street, now becomes a small part of the Publicis empire.
WPP’s Martin Sorrell made a consolidation play by retiring the GCI Group brand, which he scooped up in the Grey Advertising deal. GCI sails off into the sunset, disappearing into Cohn & Wolfe.
The PR spin on these events is upbeat. There is talk of Gershon’s desire to compete on a world stage. The WPP players boast of the wonders of marrying the tech savvy of GCI, which once handled Dell Computer, with the consumer-oriented C&W.
This blogger hopes it all turns out well, but a skeptic could very easily cast a wary eye on both transactions.
K&C is a very close-mouthed place so an outsider has no clue about how well it is doing. Financial markets, however, are tanking worldwide. How is K&C bucking that trend? Did the firm flee into the warm embrace of Publicis because things don’t look so peachy? Who knows?
Leadership at GCI and C&W say no cutbacks are anticipated because their operations show very little overlap. Just wait until Sir Martin starts squeezing the combined operation.
Happy Fourth of July to all! And best of luck.
(Photo: lefigaro.fr)
