Birth of a media-buying behemoth.(Publicis Groupe S.A., Bcom3 Group Inc.)(Brief Article)

Advertising Age, March, 2002 by Linnett, Richard

The marriage of Publicis Groupe and Bcom3 Group unites a pair of the most successful and competitive media networks in the business.

It also creates the world's second-largest media-buying group, which will control about 12% of worldwide ad spending. Publicis-controlled Zenith Optimedia Group currently ranks fourth; Bcom3's Starcom MediaVest Group ranks fifth.

``This catapults our holding company into the same league as [Interpublic], Omnicom and WPP media offerings in terms of global breadth,'' said Rich Hamilton, CEO, Zenith Optimedia Group Americas. Publicis owns 75% of Zenith Optimedia; Cordiant Communications Group owns the rest.

Simon Lloyd, CEO-deputy chairman of Zenith Optimedia Group Europe, said it's too early to tell how the media...

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