Dive Brief:

• Omnicom is aligning cultural insights consultancy Sparks & Honey closer to Omnicom Media Group (OMG) amid a push to shore up the network’s Omni data-driven platform, Marketing Dive has learned. MediaPost earlier reported changes impacting the shop. 
• A key driver of the decision is Omnicom’s recently closed whopper deal for Flywheel Digital, per MediaPost. The goal is to wed Flywheel’s specialty in e-commerce with the cultural know-how of Q, Sparks & Honey’s artificial intelligence-powered solution.  
• The move intends to advance Omni’s positioning as a data-marketing powerhouse. Flywheel, Omnicom’s largest acquisition to date, has become a focus for the group and exists as a standalone business unit.    

Dive Insight:

Omnicom is making big changes at Sparks & Honey as the race for agencies to stand up sophisticated, streamlined data operations heats up. While the consultancy has previously collaborated with OMG on client projects, it is now fully aligned in partnership with the media division. The Sparks & Honey brand will continue to exist with the transition, though some of its practices are winding down. It was not immediately clear whether layoffs are involved.

Omnicom has touted Omni as the “most comprehensive data set in the industry” with the addition of Flywheel to the roster, a boastful claim against rivals that oversee sprawling data-driven marketing offerings of their own. Investors are watching the $835 million deal closely since it is a key piece of the agency’s bets on precision marketing, which have helped grow revenue as advertisers contend with signal loss like cookie deprecation.

MediaPost’s reporting indicates that the ad-holding giant is looking to pair Flywheel’s commerce-oriented insights with the culturally focused ones of Q. Sparks & Honey’s solution analyzes trends from across over 140 countries and 16 languages, according to Sparks & Honey’s website. It examines everything from online fan subcultures to “slower moving content” in the legal, academic and patent worlds. The AI-powered tool, which rolled out publicly in 2017, was recently integrated with Omni and will continue to be enhanced through the OMG relationship.

Founded in 2012, Sparks & Honey is valued by marketers for its regular cultural briefings and research on pressing topics, including ethical data use. Several recent virtual events have been canceled, per the firm’s LinkedIn page, and its Cultural Briefings are being sunset. Omni will use generative AI to digest a decade of past Cultural Briefings and leverage the insights for intelligence reports tailored to specific business categories that will be updated over time.

Omnicom grew revenue 5.4% year-over-year in Q1 to $3.63 billion. Organic revenue, an important measure of business health, was up 4% YoY, and the company raised its full-year outlook. Executives said Flywheel contributed to the strong performance, though they didn’t break out standalone figures for the segment.