Omnicom CEO John Wren, who can often be elusive to the press, had a reason to speak while sipping his morning smoothie.
Wren told Campaign that he was eager to tell the industry that the company’s post-merger streak was “substantially over” and that “the new Omnicom is here and working.” The company also reported favorable numbers this quarter, posting organic revenue growth of 7.2% in the third quarter, compared to 6.1% in the second quarter.
“I think we (traditionally) just do a conference call (on results), but the bulk of that presentation at the end of the day is the financial aspects,” he said. “We don’t really spend enough time talking about what we have to offer our customers and some of the things we experience.”
Since completing the $9 billion acquisition of IPG last November, the company has faced constant contempt through mass layoffs, agency closures and losing its PepsiCo account to Publicis without argument. The challenges were offset by some account wins, mainly on the media side. Coca-Cola has just chosen Omnicom Media as its media partner in North America, an argument that Publicis backed away from after winning the market from PepsiCo.
The merger losses paved the way for a needed new direction for the company, Wren said.
“We’re pretty much done with divesting a number of businesses that weren’t core to our portfolio, and closing some smaller offices and other things around the world, which didn’t make any economic sense,” he said.
“The new Omnicom”
Integrated media now represents 53.0% of Omnicom’s revenue, up from 51.5% in the first quarter. The company touted its “connected advantage” as a growth driver, noting that platforms like Acxiom and its AI-powered Omni create full-service offerings for customers and put “creativity and identity at the heart.”
After the IPG merger, Omnicom highlighted a few indicators of success: revenue growth, cost reduction, strategic reinvestment, reorganization and finally “teams and leadership in place, with talent development and recruitment underway in high-growth areas.”
As for retaining talent despite losses — including the retirement of Omnicom Advertising Group Chairman and CEO Troy Ruhanen and the departure of former McCann Worldgroup global CEO Tyler Turnbull — and low employee morale during a year of change, Wren seemed largely unfazed.
“There are individual reasons why these two people are making different career choices, and you have to step back and realize that the new Omnicom is over 100,000 people strong and no single individual, starting with me, is essential to the mission we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “Everyone is replaceable.”
“Reinvest” in talent despite layoffs
This year, the talent conversation at Omnicom goes beyond just layoffs. In August, Omnicom moved its product and engineering teams that were building Omni — one of the stars of its third-quarter earnings pitch — to IT services platform Endava.
This move has raised a contradiction: how can Omnicom encourage talent upskilling while offloading hundreds of employees behind its core AI engine. The goal, which Wren called common among software companies, was to “not have to worry about layoffs and furloughs at the end of the project,” referring to Omni’s completion, before adding, “We didn’t get rid of anyone.”
“The architects and engineers who create Omni are still part of Omnicom,” said Paolo Yuvienco, chief technology officer. “We’ve actually expanded our internal teams that are focused on more strategic areas like AI…to continue this agentic evolution across our platforms.”
Wren acknowledged the turnover in talent this year and said “the goal is to reduce that attrition going forward.” Wren largely attributed this to talent not aligning with the company’s new vision and deciding to “get off the train.”
“Understandably, there was some confusion when two large groups of people (Omnicom and IPG) suddenly came together, and you find yourself with new people to report to and new goals,” he said. “We’re getting through all of this disruption because people have been in place for over a year with their new organizations and their new bosses.”
Asked how Omnicom can claim employees are its “key asset” while instituting mass layoffs, Wren pushed back against that narrative by saying the major budget cuts are over — attempting to dissociate the company from its troubled year.
“Somehow, because of the misreporting and misquoting of God knows how many people, this 15,000 number (by the end of 2026) came across as if it was something we hadn’t done yet,” he said of numerous industry reports that have misinterpreted Omnicom’s layoff plans. “Our workforce reductions have really been in place since the end of the first quarter, the beginning of the second quarter.”
Bet on new categories
In his opening remarks during the earnings conference call, Wren said the company is “reinvesting in talent and technology to drive future growth.” George Manas, head of growth and solutions, said these high-growth investments include categories such as sports and entertainment, social and creators, GEO and commerce.
Omnicom is now the largest holding company in the industry and often uses its size as leverage to generate new business. When asked if massive scale is actually what customers want, Manas defended the model and said it doesn’t detract from the quality of work or the level of attention the company can offer customers.
“We have been working to transform our integrated customer leadership function and serve our customers to ensure they get the most out of our talents and capabilities in a very focused way,” Manas said. “(We have) size and scale in service of a better customer experience and more beneficial capabilities for those customers.”
Wren’s term comes to an end
Asked about any “drama” surrounding Omnicom and its main competitor Publicis, Wren said if there was any, it wouldn’t come from him. And as for what the holding company is doing well, Wren simply insisted that it is “a very competent and competent competitor.”
“I think my competitor would like a little drama, but it doesn’t benefit anyone in our businesses or our customers,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for what they were able to accomplish. But we know we are better than them.”
Wren plans to retire at the end of 2028 and a succession plan is in the works, he said.
“I don’t see myself staying any longer than that,” he said. “It will be a very peaceful transition when my turn comes, with people who will most likely be known to a number of people in the company. We are probably looking for someone from within (the company) to succeed me at some point.”
Gn bussni
