The digital transformation of the advertising industry continues to push advertising revenues and industry mergers to new heights. Winners are experiencing extraordinary revenue growth based on multidisciplinary campaigns which combine media, print, TV and radio with new forms of social and digital.
The advertising industry is moving to integrated marketing with agencies providing a full array of marketing channels – PR, website and digital design, creative, social and paid search. Firms are offering their clients more strategic planning, earlier in the process, to help set strategy and clients are demanding research and digital analysis to build out audience personas. Business now naturally flows from strategy to execution, requiring greater coordination and collaboration across the agency than ever before.
The ongoing war for talent has become a catalyst for mergers and acquisitions as smaller boutique agencies find they need partnerships with larger players to provide digital expertise and access to global talent and markets. At the same time, larger firms are finding financing readily available to help them amplify their growth through mergers and acquisitions.