Why Winning Cannes No Longer Protects Agencies.
Omnicom’s decision to retire its most-awarded networks shows how “relevance” is now defined by footprint and positioning, not creative performance.
When “Relevance” Means Killing Creativity at Its Peak
Omnicom’s decision to retire DDB and FCB, while both agencies dominated global creative rankings in 2025, reveals a hard truth about modern holding companies: creative excellence is no longer a sufficient measure of relevance.
In a December 2, 2025 interview with The Drum, Omnicom Advertising CEO Troy Ruhanen explained that agency brand decisions following the $13 billion IPG acquisition came down to “relevance, not legacy.” The statement was meant to signal strategic discipline. Instead, it exposed a redefinition of relevance that explicitly sidelines creative performance, even at its highest level.
DDB was named Cannes Lions Network of the Year in 2025, the most prestigious recognition the global creative industry bestows. FCB New York topped The Drum’s 2025 World Creative Rankings as the most-awarded agency in the world. Both agencies were eliminated anyway.
Creative Momentum Was Not the Problem
Ruhanen was clear that heritage and age played no role in the decision. DDB, FCB, and MullenLowe collectively represent nearly 300 years of agency history, but Omnicom leadership insists legacy was irrelevant. To reinforce the point, Ruhanen noted that surviving networks, McCann (113 years), BBDO (97), and TBWA (55), are themselves deeply historic.
The implication was simple: longevity wasn’t punished, but neither was excellence rewarded.
The reaction across the industry was emotional, as The Drum described it, understandably so. Agencies at peak creative performance are rarely shuttered. Traditionally, award momentum signals cultural relevance, creative leadership, and commercial desirability. In this case, it meant nothing.
Ruhanen acknowledged the attachment but framed the outcome as unavoidable:
“Winning at Cannes is one thing. Winning in the market is another.”
How “Relevance” Was Actually Defined
According to Ruhanen, the new Omnicom structure emerged quickly once leadership assessed agencies against two primary criteria:
Presence in markets that matter most to global clients
Clarity and distinctiveness of agency positioning
By this logic, McCann (“Truth Well Told”), TBWA (“Disruption”), and BBDO (“We Do Big Things”) were deemed the most globally present and most sharply positioned. Their propositions were clear, differentiated, and easy to deploy at scale.
DDB’s Cannes Lions Network of the Year title and FCB’s dominance of global creative rankings failed to satisfy these criteria.
In Ruhanen’s framing, creative awards did not equate to relevance unless they were paired with geographic footprint density and proposition clarity. Creative output, even when validated by international juries and industry-wide rankings, was secondary.
Why Brand Clarity Trumped Brand Equity
The consolidation extended beyond agency survival to naming conventions. Some advocated for preserving historic agency brands through hybrid or combined identities, as other holding companies have done. Ruhanen rejected this outright.
He argued that blended brands create confusion, about leadership, methodology, and accountability, and cited competitors’ failed attempts as cautionary tales. His priority was clarity: employees should know exactly which brand they work for and which philosophy guides their work.
From Omnicom’s perspective, clarity accelerates transition, reduces distraction, and keeps teams focused on client business rather than internal identity debates.
What this logic excludes is the value of accumulated brand equity built through creative leadership, something awards, culture, and reputation traditionally signal.
Clients, Teams, and the Cost of Consolidation
Ruhanen emphasized that clients care more about team continuity than agency brand heritage. Omnicom conducted what he described as “very strong analysis” to determine which personnel could transition into surviving agencies.
Still, senior-level duplication meant not everyone could move over. The interview coincided with US-based staff learning whether they were among roughly 4,000 layoffs expected before year-end.
Ruhanen defended the timing, noting the deal closed just before Thanksgiving and leadership worked nonstop to communicate decisions quickly. The goal: have teams operational by January 1, 2026, even though consolidation continues through mid-year.
The intent was speed and focus. The outcome was the elimination of agencies at their creative apex.
Creative Excellence Becomes a Secondary Metric
The retirement of DDB and FCB establishes a clear hierarchy inside modern holding companies:
Market footprint > creative performance
Positioning clarity > award recognition
Portfolio rationalization > cultural impact
Cannes Lions Network of the Year requires sustained excellence across markets, disciplines, and juries. The Drum’sWorld Creative Rankings aggregate global awards data to measure creative output at scale. By those standards, DDB and FCB were indisputably relevant in 2025.
By Omnicom’s definition, they were not.
This disconnect exposes a fundamental shift: relevance is now measured through spreadsheets mapping geographic coverage and brand differentiation, not through creative contribution to culture or industry leadership.
What This Redefinition of Relevance Really Means
Ruhanen’s assertion that decisions were “not about age or legacy” but purely about relevance reframes relevance itself. In this framework:
Creative excellence offers no protection.
Awards signal prestige, not strategic value.
Cultural impact is subordinate to structural efficiency.
Agencies can win every major creative honor available and still be eliminated if they lack sufficient presence in priority markets or fail to articulate a positioning distinct enough from sister networks.
The New Reality for Agencies
The Omnicom–IPG consolidation sends a clear message to the industry:
Winning Cannes does not guarantee survival.
Being ranked #1 globally does not equal relevance.
Creative leadership is not the decisive factor in consolidation decisions.
Holding companies now define relevance through scale, coverage, and proposition clarity, treating creative excellence and market success as separate, unequal measures.
Bottom Line
Omnicom retired DDB and FCB at the height of their creative success while claiming decisions were based on “relevance, not legacy.” In doing so, leadership confirmed that relevance, at least in consolidation logic, excludes creative performance as measured by the industry’s most rigorous evaluation systems.
When presence in priority markets matters more than producing the world’s most-awarded work, agencies can dominate global rankings and still be deemed irrelevant.
That is no longer a creative industry debate.
It is a structural reality.
