Omnicom Group, the world’s second largest marketing services company, is to move its Northern operations from Didsbury to a new base in Manchester city centre.
The global company is making a multi-million pound investment in a move to Canada House, a Grade II Listed former packaging warehouse on Chepstow Street which underwent a £3m transformation last year.
TBWA/Manchester, PHD, The Marketing Arm and TRO are moving from Didsbury as part of the move, which is already underway.
Around 120 staff are understood to be involved altogether. Canada House already has tenants including Puma, the sports brand, which occupies the fifth and sixth floors.
Omnicom’s move is part of a global drive to create increased efficiencies across the group, a project being delivered by AT&T.
At the time of AT&T’s appointment, Craig Cuyar, Global CIO of Omnicom Group, said: “As we move toward a new operating model, we continue to replace many disparate systems with a single, flexible and highly secure network which will lay the foundation for further digital transformation and future growth.”
The move replicates previous co-location developments across Europe, North America and the Far East, with Omnicom locations spanning more than 100 countries with over 78,000 employees.
The agencies will share infrastructure at Canada House but will remain as separate companies operating independently.
The news further consolidates the presence of the world’s leading marketing services companies in Manchester city centre.
WPP, the world’s largest marketing services company which up until recently was run by Sir Martin Sorrell, has over 800 staff across over half a dozen brands in the North including Cheetham Bell, media buying agencies Mediacom and MEC, research company Kantar and TV production company The Farm.
Interpublic, the world’s fourth largest group, has over 700 staff across four of its brands in the North: McCann Manchester, Lakestar McCann, McCann Health and Weber Shandwick.
And last week Rachel McDonald – currently MD of Carat Manchester – was named as the first ever managing director of Dentsu Aegis Network North, with oversight of the operation of its four offices in the North including Carat, iProspect, Vizeum, Amplifi and Fetch.
