Independent agencies worldwide are cheering when we hear the news about the impending merger of Publicis and Omnicom - the 2nd and 3rd largest advertising and marketing conglomerates in the world. Keep merging please – so we can focus on doing great work and serving our clients. More than ten years ago, before I founded my PR Firm 5W, I worked for an agency which was owned by The Interpublic Group and cannot forget the pressures to increase revenues and the non-stop eye on stock price. Agencies in the marketing space should focus on doing great work for our clients – and not about fleecing our clients. I, for one am thrilled that the Publicis' MSLGroup PR network will be held under the same holding umbrella as Fleishman Hillard, Ketchum, and Porter Novelli. It is simply great news for the independents.
Independent PR Agencies like 5W PR can focus on our clients who don't want to be mere cogs in a wheel – and aren't necessarily multi-billion dollar conglomerates. Our clients, many of whom pay us in the $10,000-$20,000 ballpark per month can be rest assured we care about their business and it's quite important to us. We have no parent company to worry about.
I wasn't surprised to read that the largest independent PR agency in the world, Edelman grew 11.6% organically in the past year – surely they and other agencies will continue to grow.
Related EPR coverage — the holding-company map
- Publicis Groupe Acquires CNC — Publicis' German strategic communications play, into MSLGROUP.
- Publicis Groupe Acquires BBR Group — the Israel deal that made Publicis one of the country's leading communications groups.
- Omnicom Group: The PR Firms Inside the World's Largest Marketing Holding Company — the live directory after the November 2025 IPG acquisition.
