Following the global merger of Omnicom and Interpublic (IPG), FCB Group India CEO Dheeraj Sinha is tipped to take charge of McCann Worldgroup India as CEO. Sinha, who started his career with McCann in 1999, has been leading FCB Group India — which now folds into McCann — since November 2023 after the exit of FCB Group Global Partner Rohit Ohri.
In a related development, Prasoon Joshi, chairperson, APAC, McCann Worldgroup, CEO & CCO, McCann India, will lead Omnicom Advertising Services in India.
Omnicom’s business portfolio
Omnicom’s flagship agencies include BBDO, DDB, TBWA, OMD and PHD while IPG counts McCann, FCB, MullenLowe and IPG Mediabrands among its marquee shops in the country. Following the merger announcement, Omnicom had said it would cut 4,000 jobs globally, retire FCB, DDB and MullenLowe globally.
Sinha moved to IPG (India) in 2023 from Publicis Groupe, where he was CEO of Leo and chairperson of BBH India. He joined the French holding company from WPP’s Grey, where he was chief strategy officer, South and South East Asia.
How Omnicom-IPG merger impacted Publicis?
To put things in perspective, almost a year after it was first announced, Omnicom’s takeover of Interpublic Group (IPG) has finally closed last week. With it, IPG ceased to exist and Omnicom became the presumptive biggest marketing communications agency group in the world with a combined revenue upwards of $25bn. The title of the top agency network before the Omnicom-IPG merger was held by Publicis, which it wrested from WPP in February this year.
In terms of the pecking order, it would be status quo in India though. “IPG is at least three times larger than Omnicom, and WPP is double the size of IPG. Together, they will be a credible threat to WPP’s dominance but they would still not make it to the No 1 spot,” saidan industry veteran.