- Canaccord Genuity is hiring former WPP contractor Lance Maerov to work on advertising and media M&A.
- Maerov’s hiring suggests a surge in Madison Avenue deals could be coming.
- The advertising industry is undergoing major changes amid new technologies and different assets between firms.
Canadian investment bank Canaccord Genuity is hiring a former top producer at ad giant WPP for its advertising and media mergers and acquisitions practice, Business Insider can exclusively reveal.
Lance Maerov, who left WPP in December, will join Canaccord Genuity’s technology, media, marketing and information M&A practice, two people familiar with the matter told BI. The company informed staff earlier this week, one of the people said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve business relationships. Their identity is known to BI.
Canaccord Genuity did not respond to requests for comment.
The move to expand the bank’s media and advertising practice by hiring a prolific marketer on Madison Avenue is a strong signal that acquisitions in the agency space may be heating up. Canaccord Genuity’s recent deals in the advertising and media space include the sale of Mars United Commerce to Publicis Groupe, the acquisition of Jun Group by Verve Group and the sale of AdTheorent to Novacap-owned Cadent.
The advertising industry is undergoing a sea change that is driving deal activity
The advertising agency landscape has been transformed in recent years amid the evolution of digital marketing and the emergence of new technologies and practices, from artificial intelligence to retail media. Agencies have responded by tailoring their services to suit a broader set of client needs rather than simply creating and buying their own ads, as in decades past.
It has been marked by a spate of high-profile acquisitions, such as Publicis Groupe’s $4.4 billion purchase of data business Epsilon in 2019 and, most recently, Omnicom’s $835 million acquisition of e-commerce specialist Flywheel Digital last year.
The varying fortunes of various ad holding companies, as well as the arrival of new entrants — and a growing interest in the space from private equity — have also fueled speculation that agency groups, too, could merge or be acquired.
Rumors continue to swirl in the industry about what might be next for WPP, once the leader of the pack, whose market value has fallen well below that of rivals Publicis and Omnicom. (On Wednesday, WPP reported a return to third-quarter revenue growth that analysts had not generally expected.)
The Wall Street Journal reported this summer that IPG was in talks to sell R/GA, its digital agency famous for its work at Nike, to Tata Consultancy Services. S4Capital, led by former WPP boss Martin Sorrell, rejected a takeover bid from rival firm Stagwell earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal first reported.
Maerov, who worked under Sorrell at WPP as executive vice president of corporate development, was responsible for the company’s M&A and venture capital investments. He also worked closely with CEO Mark Read and his chief operating officer, Andrew Scott.
Maerov worked for WPP for more than 20 years, during which time it made transformative acquisitions such as the 2007 acquisition of 24/7 digital marketing company Real Media and the 2015 acquisition of British media agency Essence.
Through WPP’s investments, Maerov sat on the boards of companies including the Weinstein Co., Vice Media, IT firm Globant and lifestyle website Refinery29. He later testified against Harvey Weinstein in the trial that sent the movie mogul to prison.
This year, Maerov branched out on his own, opening Dinmont Ridge, a strategic advisory and venture capital firm.