When you’re a ten-and-a-half-billion-dollar gorilla like P&G, you pretty much get what you want.
The ultimate goal of this patchwork thing will be to increase the percentage of P&G advertising outlays for creative work by reducing the spend for everything else on the account. (So, really, fewer dinners.)
The component limbs and organs will be directed by Saatchi & Saatchi New York CEO Andrea Diquez. Everyone will work out of P&G facilities in either New York or Cincinnati. Perhaps it’s like the United Nations, where major powers get together for the common good. Or maybe one of those joint military operations – heck, D-Day worked for the Allies.
Or is it more like when the FBI sends Clarice to meet with Hannibal Lecter?
Inspiration for this type of conglomeration comes from Johnson & Johnson, which has consolidated its work with WPP and Omnicom, having them assemble whole teams in New York to work solely on Johnson & Johnson. McDonald’s did this about a year and a half ago, pulling together two all-beef The Marketing Stores, Alma sauce, IW Group lettuce, T Brand Studio cheese, Facebook, Google, and Twitter pickles, Burrell Communications onions, all on an Omnicom-seed bun.
So, will this trend continue? Will companies that utilize service providers demand they all work together like the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy uniting to battle Thanos? And will the synergy be great, or will we get AOL and Time Warner?
Where will this trend lead? Could Google force McDonald’s and Waste Management to work together to feed its geeks? Could Apple put Kaiser Permanente and Bayer together to keep its employees healthy?
Remember, the customer is always right. Don’t get me started, please.
Howard Davidson