Publicis Group acquires Atomic212 in major consolidation for media agency sector

Tim Burrowes

January 28, 2025 9:57

Holding company Publicis Group has acquired indie media agency Atomic212 in what is likely to be one of the last major agency deals of its kind.

Atomic will join Publicis Group

Major clients for Atomic212 include Tourism NT, WeightWatchers, Dan Murphy’s, BHP, Bupa and BMW Group. No price has been disclosed for the deal although industry newsletter Mi3 has speculated at $35-50m for the 16-year-old agency. Atomic212 was Australia’s biggest remaining independent media agency.

The move comes at a time when most holding companies are reducing their number of agency brands. Publicis Group media agencies include Zenith, Starcom and Spark Foundry in Australia and MBM in New Zealand.

Subscribe to keep reading

Your daily source for the latest headlines, in-depth analysis, and breaking stories from around the globe.

Tim Burrowes

I write about the world's media and marketing industry from an Australian perspective Australian lens. I've worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia. I founded Mumbrella, which we sold in 2017.

Topics

1 COMMENTS

Anonymous 2 Feb 25

This won’t be the last deal of its kind… Publicis isn’t acquiring another agency; its acquiring media billings. If it’s cheaper to take those billings via pitching, the bigs will go that route… but if it’s cheaper to simply buy the billings then that’s what they’ll do. The “agency” will quickly go from being a company to a sales function (to further grow billings) then disappear altogether. The overall strategy of reducing the number of brands remains intact…

User ID not verified.