Omnicom–IPG consolidation: Who survives in creative and media, who disappears

New Delhi: The new Omnicom-IPG giant is set to wipe some of Madison Avenue’s most storied names off the map, even as it doubles down on a tighter roster of global creative and media networks.

Following the completion of Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group, the holding company has confirmed a major brand rationalisation: three historic creative networks - FCB, DDB and MullenLowe - will be retired globally, while all entities carrying the IPG name, including IPG Mediabrands, will also disappear as brands.

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At the same time, Omnicom is elevating six “capability” groups, including consolidated Advertising and Media platforms, under a new global leadership layer.

Here is how the new line-up looks for creative and media agencies - who survives, and who vanishes.

Creative networks: three survive, three vanish

Omnicom’s new Advertising capability, led globally by Troy Ruhanen, will be built around just three worldwide creative networks:

1. BBDO Worldwide
2. McCann
3. TBWA Worldwide

In parallel, three long-standing networks are being retired as global brands in the first half of 2026:

1. FCB - to be folded into BBDO
2. DDB - to be absorbed into TBWA
3. MullenLowe - also to be absorbed into TBWA

FCB, DDB and MullenLowe will cease to exist as independent global brands, with people and clients redistributed between the surviving networks in each local market.

For now, Omnicom has not detailed how this will play out market by market, including in India. Local brands such as DDB Mudra, FCB India and MullenLowe Lintas are expected to be aligned under the TBWA or BBDO umbrellas over 2026, but the precise timing and branding in each country are yet to be announced.

Media: OMD, PHD, UM, Initiative, Mediahub and Hearts & Science stay; Mediabrands name goes

On the media side, Omnicom is creating a single Omnicom Media platform, led by Florian Adamski, that brings together both Omnicom and IPG media networks.

Under Omnicom Media, the surviving global media brands are:

1. OMD
2. PHD
3. Hearts & Science
4. UM (Universal McCann)
5. Initiative
6. Mediahub

All of these will sit alongside data marketing business Acxiom, which feeds identity and audience data into the group’s Omni platform.

However, the IPG Mediabrands name itself - which previously housed UM, Initiative, Mediahub and other units - is being retired, along with all other “IPG”-branded entities such as IPG Health.

In simple terms: the media agency brands largely survive, but the Mediabrands and IPG labels do not.

Media shops like UM and Initiative will now be described as part of Omnicom Media, not IPG Mediabrands.

Why Omnicom is doing this

The restructuring follows the completion of Omnicom’s all-share acquisition of IPG, creating the world’s largest advertising holding company with pro forma revenue of around $25 billion.

To deliver promised synergies and simplify its offer, Omnicom is:

Cutting about 4,000 jobs, largely in overlapping leadership and back-office roles;

Retiring duplicate or overlapping global brands (FCB, DDB, MullenLowe, IPG, IPG Mediabrands); and

Concentrating investment behind fewer, scaled platforms in creative, media, PR, production, data/AI and commerce.

Omnicom has also created horizontal “client success” and “growth” teams at holding-company level to stitch together media, creative, PR, commerce and health solutions for its largest accounts worldwide.

What to watch in the Indian market

On creative, global networks BBDO, McCann and TBWA will be the three main flags. FCB, DDB and MullenLowe parents are going away, so their Indian outfits are likely to be re-badged or structurally aligned under BBDO or TBWA over the next year or so.

On media, OMD, PHD, Hearts & Science, UM, Initiative and Mediahub will form one combined media ecosystem under Omnicom Media, with Indian offices expected to plug into common tools and data, including Omni and Acxiom.