The Interpublic Group of Companies

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG) was an American advertising company based in New York City. It consisted of the five major networks FCB, IPG Mediabrands, McCann Worldgroup, MullenLowe Group and Marketing Specialists, as well as several independent specialty agencies in the areas of public relations, sports marketing, talent representation and healthcare.[2] Prior to the Omnicom acquisition, it was one of the "Big Four" agency companies, alongside WPP, Publicis, and Omnicom.[3] The company was acquired by Omnicom in 2025, and its operations were later folded into Omnicom following the acquisition.

History

On October 2, 1930, IPG was founded in New York City as McCann-Erickson, when H.K. McCann Co. (founded in 1911) and Erickson Co. (founded in 1902) merged.[4] At the time, it was the largest agency in the ad industry.[5]

In 1960, McCann was restructured into four operating units, each reporting to a new holding company. The four units were McCann-Erickson Advertising (U.S.), McCann-Erickson Corp. (international), McCann-Marschalk, and Communications Affiliates.[5] In January 1961, McCann was renamed Interpublic Group (IPG) and created the first marketing services management holding company with McCann-Erickson as a subsidiary.[6]

In late 1973, as clients began focusing more on international strategies, McCann-Erickson combined its domestic and international branches into a single worldwide agency under IPG.[5] In 1997, the McCann-Erickson World Group was formed with several of IPG's different units.[7]

In December 2000, Deutsch Inc, reported by the New York Times at the time to be the largest and last big independent agency, was acquired by IPG to be an autonomous unit.[8] In 2001, IPG acquired True North Communications, the holding company for Foote Cone & Belding.[9][10]

In 2003, IPG agreed to pay $115 million to settle class action lawsuits brought by its shareholders. The shareholders had sued Interpublic after accounting irregularities led to restatements of financial results, causing the company's stock to fall.[11]

In March 2004, IPG renamed its McCann-Erickson World Group as McCann Worldgroup.[12]

On September 15, 2005, IPG announced plans to restate earnings for fiscal 2000 through 2004, due to problems in accounting for revenue, acquisitions and lease expenses.[13] On March 22, 2006, IPG posted a loss for the fourth quarter and restated results for the first three quarters of 2005, which reduced revenue by $14.1 million. It also announced its controller and chief accounting officer was leaving the company.[14]

IPG disposed of 51 businesses in 2005 and 2006, primarily outside the U.S.; the company said it exited 23 "loss-making international affiliates" in 2006.[15] In April 2007, IPG announced it had agreed to buy Reprise Media, a search engine marketing firm.[16] In July of that same year, FCB-Ulka Advertising Private Limited, a subsidiary of IPG, was renamed DRAFTFCB+Ulka Advertising Pvt. Ltd.[17]

In July 2008, IPG formed a media buying and planning unit called Mediabrands (later IPG Mediabrands).[18] In March 2014, IPG draftfcb was renamed as IPG's international network FCB.[19] In January 2016, the merger of IPG groups Mullen in the US and Lowe and Partners worldwide was renamed as MullenLowe Group.[20] In July 2018, IPG announced they were buying database marketing company Acxiom's Marketing Solutions business for $USD2.3 billion.[21]

In October 2020, the company announced that Phillippe Krakowsky would be succeeding Michael I. Roth as the company's CEO on January 1, 2021.[22] Phillippe Krakowsky became the company's CEO on January 1, 2021.[23]

IPG handles the accounts of many major oil companies.[24] Asked by Reuters in 2020 to disclose their client list, IPG refused to do so.[24]

The Wall Street Journal reported on December 8, 2024, that Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group are in advanced merger discussions. This potential merger could value Interpublic at between $13 billion and $14 billion, excluding debt. If completed, this deal would unite the third and fourth largest advertising firms globally, potentially making the merged entity the world's largest advertising company, surpassing WPP in size.[25] On the New York Stock Exchange, the new firm will keep the Omnicom name and trade as "OMC" with John Wren the chairman and CEO of Omnicom and Phil Angelastro the chief financial officer and executive vice president. Daryl Simm and the IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky will be chief operating officers and co-presidents at Omnicom.[26] The merger was completed on November 26, 2025.[27][28][29][30]

Companies

IPG consisted of dozens of businesses organized into six groups. There were three global networks that operated within IPG, which included Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB); McCann Worldgroup; and MullenLowe; a media services company, IPG Mediabrands; a marketing services group, Marketing Specialists; and several independent domestic digital agencies.[31]

Further reading

External links