Oh hey, maybe you heard the news: ad agency holding groups might not make for the world’s most promising investment opportunities at this particular time.
A quick glance at the stock prices of even IPG and Omnicom, which had pretty good quarters, respectively, resemble a roller coaster.
This is great news… for smart investors in Canada. Indie agency Rethink of IKEA lamp fame, which has offices in Vancouver, Toronto & Montreal, recently made a show of shorting the 5 holding groups’ stocks in a recent video “just like that movie with Ryan Gosling” and Steve Carell.
Well that was quite cocky, wasn’t it?
But the premise is still fun assuming you’re one of the very few truly independent agencies who can laugh at this joke. And it was all for the higher purpose of self-promotion as Rethink just won Gold Digital Agency of the Year at Canada’s Strategy Magazine awards.
Now that we think of it, though, maybe activist shareholders are exactly what the holding companies need, pushing them to pivot toward Big Pharma and pet food or else.