Unusual Group Market Outlook: The Impact of the Omnicom–IPG Merger, 2025–2027

Shift in the Giants: Market Implications of the Omnicom–IPG Merger

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, December 11, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As Omnicom completes its US$13.5 billion takeover of Interpublic Group (IPG) and begins cutting thousands of jobs, collapsing legacy agencies and reorganising global operations, With combined revenues soaring past US$25 billion and promises of tighter integration via Omnicom’s “Omni” platform, powered by IPG’s data-marketing assets, the deal was pitched to the market as the dawn of a new era of “intelligent growth.”

But Unusual Group says the industry is missing the real story. The deal will spark the largest migration of clients and talent from holding companies to independent agencies in more than ten years, as brands move away from organisational upheaval and toward senior-led stability.

“Scale won’t fix the problems the holding groups are facing,” said Luke Tobin, CEO of Unusual Group. “During integration, clients will prioritise speed, stability and senior attention, none of which are compatible with a two-year restructuring cycle. That’s where independents win.”

Unusual Group 2025–2027 post-merger landscape predictions:

1. Client Migration Spike
Account reviews across holding companies will increase by 15% to 25%, driven by service disruption, leadership turnover and agency consolidation.

2. Talent Exodus to Independents
Senior creatives, strategists and operations leaders will leave holding companies at the highest rate since 2008, strengthening the independent talent pool.

3. Independent Growth Surge
Independent agencies will grow 2 to 3x faster than holding companies through 2027, fuelled by client movement and specialist demand.

4. Creative Identity Revaluation
Brands will favour agencies with a clear cultural identity over conglomerate-built "integration models".

5. Power Shift Accelerates
Between 10% and 20% of the merged group’s global clients will reassess their agency relationships in the next 6 to 18 months, and independents will capture a disproportionate share.


Omnicom’s acquisition is being positioned as a bet on scale, data and operating efficiency. Unusual Group argues the opposite; the deal highlights the limits of the traditional holding-company model.

For more than a decade, Madison Avenue’s giants, Omnicom, IPG, WPP, Publicis and Dentsu have been stuck in the same pattern, 1–3% organic growth against digital platforms growing multiples faster. With margins squeezed by procurement and automation eroding legacy service lines, the holding groups have depended on restructuring to stay afloat.

The Omnicom–IPG merger is the clearest signal yet that the model cannot defend growth or margin on its own. Large advertising mergers rarely deliver short-term revenue gains. They introduce operational drag, service levels decline, senior talent exits, creative identity is diluted and clients quickly feel deprioritised.

Omnicom has already announced significant job cuts and the consolidation of long-standing creative networks. The risk, Unusual Group says, is clear; the new entity may lose the very capabilities that once differentiated it.

“Clients want clarity, not complexity,” said Ali Newton-Temperley, COO of Unusual Group. “When the big networks are reorganising, independents can provide consistency. That difference becomes decisive.”

Historical precedent supports the forecast. Publicis' acquisition of Sapient and WPP’s multi-network consolidations each led to prolonged periods of slow organic growth. “The larger the integration, the slower the machine becomes,” the report notes.

Unusual Group highlights three structural advantages that independents can exploit immediately:

1. Speed over bureaucracy
Fast decisions, senior-led delivery and lean models give independents the agility large networks cannot maintain during integration.

2. Talent concentration, not dilution
As holding groups streamline, independents gain access to displaced senior talent, elevating capability and craft.

3. Independents optimise for client impact, not quarterly margin repair.
That difference is increasingly meaningful to CMOs under pressure. “If the holding companies defend margins by compressing teams, independents grow by absorbing expertise,” the report states.

Advertising has outgrown the old model. Today’s market rewards specialists, measurable impact and leaders who stay close to the work, all areas where independents outperform the holding companies. Independent networks with real scale can now offer what the big groups can’t, capability without bureaucracy.

For the independents ready to step forward, Unusual Group says this moment isn’t a threat; it’s the best opportunity in a decade to rewrite the competitive order, and its own model positions it to support brands seeking alternatives to large network structures.

About Unusual Group
Unusual Group is a growth and transformation partner that helps agencies scale responsibly. From venture-backed startups to enterprise innovators, Unusual Group enables teams to build trusted, resilient digital businesses.

Annabelle Baugh, Media Contact
Unusual Group
annabelle.baugh@unusualgroup.com
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