The news: The Q2 2025 earnings cycle has underscored major shifts across the world’s top advertising holding companies, with performance diverging sharply.

• Publicis Groupe led the pack with 5.9% organic growth, buoyed by wins from Mars, Coca-Cola, and Paramount.
• Omnicom reported 3% growth, in line with expectations, and reaffirmed its guidance of 2.5% to 4.5% growth for the full year.
• Interpublic Group (IPG) posted a 3.5% drop in organic revenue, though it delivered record Q2 margins at 18.1% due to cost-cutting ahead of its $13 billion acquisition by Omnicom, which is on track to close later this year.
• WPP had the toughest quarter, slashing its full-year outlook after a revenue slide of 5.5% to 6% in Q2 and a wave of client losses.

Client movement defined the quarter. Publicis seized high-profile accounts from WPP and IPG, including Mars and Paramount. IPG, recovering from losing Amazon and Pfizer in 2024, pointed to new media wins with 7-Eleven and Anthropic.

Why it matters: The battle for client dollars is intensifying as companies navigate an uncertain global economy.

• Agencies are contending with reduced marketing budgets, shorter project scopes, and increased pressure to deliver measurable results.
• Several holding companies emphasized that losses from 2024 still weighed on Q2 performance, showing how lagging account transitions can affect financials for several quarters.
• Compounding these pressures are macroeconomic and political issues. Executives across Publicis, WPP, and IPG referenced slower client decision-making tied to trade instability and potential US tariff changes under President Donald Trump, contributing to more cautious advertiser behavior.

Our take: This earnings cycle revealed a clear separation between agencies that are winning accounts and those struggling to defend them.

• Publicis continues to distance itself from peers by leaning into performance-driven services and AI-enabled tools.
• Omnicom is steady, though the pending IPG merger may bring both opportunity and complexity.
• IPG, for its part, is focused on becoming leaner before joining forces with Omnicom—and appears to be turning the corner on client retention.
• WPP, however, is in a bind. Client exits, executive turnover, and uneven performance across its network suggest deeper challenges. While the company is investing heavily in its AI platform and data capabilities, it remains to be seen whether those moves will reverse the current slide.

Behind the headlines, agency executives are voicing concern about what’s happening under the hood. More than 40% of senior agency leaders cite shrinking profits and rising costs among their top challenges. These structural pressures are likely to remain even if the new business tide turns.

In a slower-growth environment, holding companies that can meaningfully improve how they operate—not just what they sell—may prove the most resilient over the next few quarters.