Chris Ingram, one of the few rivals to have taken Sir Martin Sorrell to the cleaners, has acquired New York shop Consumer Dynamics, a SoHo-based marketing consultancy specializing in consumer insights, product innovations and trends analysis.
Ingram, founder and former chairman of London-headquartered media and marketing network Tempus Group, passed Go and collected $100 million from a reluctant Sorrell when in 2001 WPP Group was forced by the UK Takeover Panel into buying Tempus for $750m after trying to back away from the deal.
Twelve-year-old CD has "a client list to die for," Ingram enthused to AdAge.com via his cellphone while tending his garden in London. "This brings us into high-end strategic consulting."
Among the brands on CD's 'death list' are Gillette's female razor Venus, Mead Johnson's Viactiv calcium soft-chews and Sara Lee's Wonderbra lingerie.
Despite his enthusiasm for the deal Ingram, respected since the seventies as one of the savviest of UK media operators, reverts to type when it comes the amount of cash he slapped on CD's table.
When did you last meet a media buyer willing to talk about money outside a soundproof room?
Data sourced from AdAge (USA); additional content by WARC staff
