FTC Clears Publicis for LiveRamp, With Strings

Lufthansa Group awards global media account to Omnicom Media. MediaPost reports the airline group's global media account, estimated at more than $150 million in annual spend, moved to Omnicom Media after a formal review, a scale marker for buyers tracking consolidation. (MediaPost) Reports: Meta AI ad tools posted discounts despite settings off. Marketing Dive reports that Meta's AI-powered ad tools surfaced discount offers to customers even when promotions were switched off, raising a control question for advertisers using automated creative. (Marketing Dive) HubSpot replaces CEO and CFO in AI "refounding". PYMNTS reports HubSpot announced on November 12 that its founder returns as chief executive and the finance chief is changing, in what the company calls a refounding around AI, a leadership shift at a core martech vendor. (PYMNTS.com, CMS Wire, CNA) Unilever details social-first marketing model amid reorganization. Marketing Dive reports Unilever described its marketing model as "global strategy, local execution" as it reorganizes, relevant to where briefs are written and agency decisions sit at one of the largest advertisers. (Marketing Dive) Also moving today: Forrester Ranks Omnicom, Publicis, WPP Top In Media Services (MediaPost, MediaPost, Digiday) Adobe Outbids Competitors For Top Talent To Write Agentic Creative Technology (MediaPost) Viant’s Vanderhook Brothers Want To Make Your Next CTV Ad (AdExchanger) SunnyD and Juicy Juice Hand Their Comeback to Goodby Silverstein & Partners (Adweek) Oreo refreshes holiday creative with spin on Santa’s milk and cookies (Marketing Dive, Adweek) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

Ogilvy and CAA partner on licensed AI celebrity likenesses. The agency and talent firm say AI-generated versions of celebrity clients will appear in ads carrying disclosure labels, setting an early reference for how synthetic talent gets licensed and marked. (Digiday, Marketing Dive) Omnicom's Initiative wins Pernod Ricard India media mandate. Storyboard18 reports the spirits company's India media account has moved from WPP Media's Wavemaker to Omnicom's Initiative after a multi-agency pitch, signalling live competitive pressure in the market after holding-company consolidation. (storyboard18.com) Omnicom names Tom Schwenger CEO of health marketing unit. Adweek reports the former Veeva Systems president replaces Dana Maiman as Omnicom Health absorbs IPG's healthcare agencies, an early signal of how the enlarged group will staff its specialist units. (Adweek) Adobe and Disney sign multi-year AI creative alliance. The two companies say a multi-year agreement will put Adobe tools and AI models into Disney's creative and development work, giving marketers a named reference point for AI tooling where rights exposure matters. (FutureFive New Zealand, Yahoo News, TheWrap) Also moving today: ADWEEK Agencies Advantage: As Reviews Give Way to Handshakes, Clients Will Decide The Fate of the Pitch (Adweek) Adobe Brings Agentic AI to the Content Supply Chain with CX Enterprise Coworker (MarTech Series, CRM Magazine, TechTarget) Human-Crafted Holiday Ads Are an Unspoken Nod to AI Anxiety (Adweek) Sabrina Carpenter Swaps Espresso for Whisky in Damien Chazelle’s Johnnie Walker Ad (Adweek) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

Coca-Cola splits media and creative across Omnicom, WPP. Coca-Cola has appointed Omnicom for US and Canada media while WPP keeps global creative and media elsewhere, per trade reports, a live reference point for how global accounts get divided by region. (Brand Spur, sportsbusinessjournal.com, More About Advertising) Omnicom reports 7.2% growth as media outpaces advertising. Omnicom says Integrated Media grew over 10% organically in Q3 while its advertising business declined mid-single digits, a read on which disciplines the group says are carrying revenue. (afaqs!, Adweek, Marketing Dive) Buyers shift Q4 dollars to retail media and social. Digiday reports Q4 ad dollars are concentrating in retail media and social while buyers stay cautious around the midterms, the planning input for Q1 flowcharts. (Digiday, Digiday) Accenture Song CEO builds growth around agentic commerce. Adweek reports Ndidi Oteh is building Accenture Song around a $1 billion agentic commerce pipeline and the Whalar acquisition, and is eyeing media, the competitive set holding companies face. (Adweek) Also moving today: Stagwell Snaps Up Freestar to Bolster Owned Media Ambitions (Adweek, AdExchanger, Digiday) Publicis installs leadership atop Marcel as agentic drives growth plans (Marketing Dive) Dentsu parts ways with Toni Frith amid media restructure (Mumbrella) Pinterest strengthens bid to media buyers with programmatic solution (Marketing Dive, Adweek) Apple Music Rebrands With a Look Made by Sound (Adweek) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

Omnicom unit Credera signs five-year AWS agreement. Omnicom's consulting arm has committed to Amazon Web Services for five years, per the companies' announcement, a signal that agency-side AI delivery is being built on one named cloud rather than assembled deal by deal. (FinanzNachrichten.de, RTTNews) Also moving today: Media buyers chart path for brands and sponsors through high NBA demand (Digiday) Future of Marketing Briefing: Advertisers have more ways than ever to choose a holdco, and free holdcos to choose from (Digiday, Digiday) McDonald’s Ends 32-Year FIFA World Cup Sponsorship Amid Marketing Overhaul (Adweek) Hollywood, Creator Agencies Battle Madison Avenue For Brand Budgets (Forbes) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

Coca-Cola Splits Media: Omnicom Takes North America. Adweek and Digiday report Omnicom won Coca-Cola's North America media account while WPP keeps the global business, putting the largest US beverage media budget across two holding companies. (Adweek, Digiday, Digiday) Omnicom Reports 7.2% Organic Growth in Third Quarter. Omnicom's Q3 release puts core revenue at $6.0 billion with 7.2% organic growth, the figure rival holding companies' disclosures will be measured against. (CNHI News, Investing.com, Digiday) Advertisers Pull Meta Ads Altered by Platform AI. Adweek reports buyers are removing ads that Meta's AI enhanced, ahead of October 30 terms making advertisers "solely responsible" for what that AI creates. (Adweek) Publicis Names First CEO for Marcel AI Platform. Scott Hagedorn becomes CEO and Sam Levine Archer CSO of Marcel, per Adweek, putting named accountability on a holding company's own AI stack. (Adweek) Also moving today: Dentsu Creative Expands Scope With Diageo Across U.S. Trade and Shopper Marketing (Adweek) Meta Grows Revenue 26% Despite Massive Muse Operating Costs (AdExchanger, Marketing Dive) Common Interest Expands US Presence With Mirimar Investment (Adweek) Shannon Nunn Rounds Out LePub NY Leadership Team as CEO (Adweek) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

Omnicom Wins Lavazza Global Media, Reportedly $110 Million. MediaPost reports Lavazza handed its global media business to Omnicom Media after an eight-month review run by Ebiquity, a current reference point for how large consolidated pitches are being structured. (MediaPost) Netflix Cuts Ad Revenue Forecast By 10%. Netflix now expects ad revenue about $300 million below its earlier forecast, per Marketing Dive, a figure buyers can weigh against the company's continued ad-suite build-out. (Marketing Dive, AdExchanger) Salesforce To Buy Braze For $5.66 Billion. Proactive Investors reports Salesforce has agreed to acquire the customer-engagement platform Braze, sending its shares higher and lifting rival Klaviyo as investors reprice the category. (Proactiveinvestors NA, International Business Times AU, Investing.com) ChatGPT Ads Expands To 26 Countries, Formats Undecided. AdExchanger reports OpenAI's ad product is adding 26 markets while the ad formats themselves remain unsettled, a reach story buyers can plan against before creative specs exist. (AdExchanger) Also moving today: Omnicom Strikes Five-Year AWS Deal As Agencies Push Beyond Advertising | MARKETING Magazine Asia (Marketing Magazine Asia) Publicis Grows 5.4% In Asia As Agency Giants Tighten Their Grip | MARKETING Magazine Asia (Marketing Magazine Asia) PepsiCo and AB InBev Vet Takes CMO Post at Troubled Diageo North America (Adweek) Target unwraps high-concept holiday ads focused on gift-giving academy (Marketing Dive) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

FTC clears Publicis-LiveRamp with equal-access condition. Regulators would allow the acquisition only if rivals keep equal access to LiveRamp's data for five years, the condition decides how much the deal actually changes for buyers. (The Next Web, Adweek, MediaPost) Salesforce to buy Braze for $5.7 billion. Salesforce says it will fold the cross-channel engagement platform into its marketing stack, raising roadmap and pricing questions for Braze customers. (Tech News | Startups News, Adweek, Yahoo! Finance) Apple's WebKit team publishes anti-tracking plan. Apple says blocking cross-site cookies is no longer enough and outlines further work against fingerprinting and link decoration, a stated plan, not shipped policy. (AdExchanger, Digiday) Netflix cuts ad revenue expectation to $2.7 billion. Netflix now expects $2.7 billion in ad revenue this year against a previously stated $3 billion target, citing a slower rollout of ad capabilities. (Adweek, Yahoo! Finance) Also moving today: Clemenger BBDO wins Visit Victoria pitch (Mumbrella) 72andSunny moves Firrdaus Yusoff to Sydney as ECD and hires Ogilvy's Nikhil Panjwani to lead Singapore (Campaign Brief Asia) Havas Q3 net revenue rises 7.2 per cent as acquisitions boost growth (Indian Television Dot Com, Indian Television Dot Com) Charli XCX Joins Absolut for ‘Chaotic’ Two-Year Partnership (Adweek) Heineken® teams up with Amazon to launch "Pubscription"... The world's first streaming service for nights out (Heineken) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

FTC Would Clear Publicis, LiveRamp With Access Condition. The FTC says it will allow the $2.2 billion LiveRamp purchase if Publicis offers rivals equal access to the platform's data connections, making shared identity pipes a condition of the deal rather than a courtesy. (Bloomberg Business, Investing.com, Taiwan News) Digiday Tracks How Second-Tier Holdcos Differentiate. Digiday reports on the moves mid-size holding companies and independents are making to stand apart from Publicis, Omnicom and WPP, the field clients see next to the Big Three on shortlists. (Digiday, Digiday) Fox Extends Agentic Ad Platform to Live and Linear. Fox Advertising says its agentic buying platform now reaches live and commercial linear inventory, with WPP, Omnicom, Horizon, Stagwell and Simulmedia added as partners, pulling the major holdcos into an automated TV workflow. (TVTechnology) Billion Dollar Boy Buys LinkedIn Agency Creator Authority. The creator-marketing group's acquisition of a LinkedIn-specialist shop, alongside its stated path past $100 million in revenue next year, treats B2B influencer work as a billable line. (Marketing Dive) Also moving today: How marketers can optimize their media mix as confidence takes a turn (Marketing Dive) ADWEEK Reveals the 2026 Agency of the Year Shortlist (Adweek) Boston ad agency Colossus scooped up by private-equity-backed firm (The Boston Globe) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

WPP names Tyler Turnbull to lead creative unit. WPP has appointed McCann's outgoing global CEO to head WPP Creative from early 2027, an early signal of how the group will structure creative leadership. (Brand Spur) Dentsu pitches entertainment as its own client budget line. Digiday reports Dentsu is positioning entertainment as a separate line in client budgets, a category that would be contested in pitches if advertisers fund it that way. (Digiday) Fender and Marshall launch content series targeting AI search. Digiday reports two instrument brands built content series partly to raise visibility in AI-generated answers, a tactic it describes as part of a wider pattern. (Digiday) Marketers pay to amplify creator posts amid measurement gaps. Marketing Dive reports some marketers are spending more to amplify influencer content as a workaround for unresolved measurement, shifting the gap into media cost. (Marketing Dive) Also moving today: Fox Expands Agentic Push With Eyes Set On TV Upfront Future (Adweek) X and Threads are losing ground with advertisers. Can they win it back? (Campaign India) Arby’s hires ex-Papa Johns CMO to balance brand-building, sales growth (Marketing Dive) Stagwell Announces Appointment of Nagmeh Taheri as Chief Growth Officer, Media & Commerce for Stagwell Europe, Effective November 18, 2026 (Market Screener, FinanzNachrichten.de, Northern Ireland News) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com

WARC reports CPG ad spend rising as tech pulls back. WARC describes a "two-speed marketplace" in which consumer-goods and beauty budgets grow while technology advertisers retreat, a split that changes who agencies should be selling to. (Marketing Dive) Publicis calls AI marketing a 'two-speed boat'. Publicis says agentic work is winning assignments without a pitch while its Sapient consultancy arm struggles for growth, an uneven payoff holding groups may see in their own AI lines. (Marketing Dive) Meta introduces time-bound ad windows across Facebook and Instagram. Meta's announced Ads Super Burst lets advertisers reserve a three- to 24-hour window on a single day, giving social buyers a daypart-style unit to weigh against TV and CTV. (AdExchanger) Dentsu repositions Carat as rivals pitch as one group. Dentsu is emphasising named agency brands through Carat's new positioning while competitors consolidate their media arms into single offerings, leaving clients a choice between the two models. (Campaign India, Bizcommunity.com, The Media Online) Also moving today: Clear Channel Taps Two Top TV Execs to Reprogram Outdoor Advertising (Adweek) Havas says India has overtaken China as its largest market in Asia Pacific; AI investments remain key to productivity (storyboard18.com, storyboard18.com) American Express CMO and 37-Year Vet Elizabeth Rutledge Retires (Adweek) Adobe and NVIDIA Expand Collaboration to Speed Agentic Creation (NVIDIA Newsroom, wallstreet:online, Pulse 2.0) BofA sees ChatGPT taking aim at Google's next ad dollar - AOL (Aol) Get Advertising in Five in your inbox every weekday: https://advertisinginfive.com