Omnicom touts revenue growth, AI investments in Q2 earnings

Omnicom reported continued revenue growth in its Q2 earnings report released on Tuesday.

The holding company’s organic revenue grew 3.4% YoY in the second quarter. Total revenue grew to $3.61 billion, missing analyst expectations.

Its experiential and advertising/media disciplines experienced the most growth during the quarter, increasing 9.2% and 5.1%, respectively. Omnicom’s North American market, excluding the US, grew the most out of all the regions the company operates in. It expanded 8.4%, followed by Asia Pacific (7.5%) and Latin America (6.9%). The US saw 2.4% growth.

Omnicom touted its focus on investing in generative AI. “We’re responding with AI as if our hair were on fire,” chairman and CEO John Wren said during the earnings call. “We want to be leaders in this area.”

In April, the holding company said it was partnering with Adobe to leverage its generative AI tools, Adobe Firefly and Adobe Sensei GenAI, to support Omnicom agencies’ work. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Omnicom planned to collaborate with Microsoft to roll out a generative AI tool to help employees with tasks like building media plans.

In Q1, Omnicom focused on cost-cutting measures: Wren told investors it was selling off 1.6 million square feet of office space, noting the company had cut 35% of its “office footprint” since 2018. The company has been funneling money into acquisitions lately, however; earlier this month, it bought German advertising agency Grabarz & Partner. One of its agencies, TBWA\Worldwide, acquired sports marketing agency Dark Horses in April.