The Elephants Are Mating Again

Arthur A. Anderson

The author considers the spate of big advertising agency mergers and acquisitions in the year 2000, and asks whose best interests they serve.

The Elephants are Mating Again

Respecting clients’ interests in an era of agency consolidation

Arthur A. Anderson Morgan Anderson Consulting

The elephants are mating again in Adland, and it’s a sorry sight for clients.

Not that procreation itself is a bad thing. But as anyone with knowledge of biology knows, there are risks to coupling – sometimes in the form of unhealthy offspring.

Which brings us to the past year’s spate of advertising agency mergers and acquisitions. Clients of the agencies involved can be forgiven for wondering whether there was any strategic intent at play in some of these...

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