Dive Brief:

• Interpublic Group (IPG) sold creative innovation company R/GA to private equity firm Truelink Capital, per a press release. R/GA's Global CEO Robin Forbes and Chair and Global Chief Creative Officer Tiffany Rolfe are among the agency leaders who are investing in the company as part of the deal, per a separate release.
• Truelink will contribute a minimum of $50 million to R/GA's Innovation Fund to support investment in generative artificial intelligence (AI) around skill sets, talent, product development and acquisitions.
• The move is IPG's latest divestiture as it prepares to be acquired by Omnicom and demonstrates how agency shops are navigating the fallout of the deal, which will create a holding company behemoth. 

Dive Insight:

After 23 years as part of IPG, R/GA is back to being a privately-owned, independent agency. The sale to and partnership with Truelink is intended to help the digitally focused shop — which faced lagging client demand for years — prepare for an agency landscape remade by the dual forces of generative AI and consolidation.

“Most agencies will struggle to make the pivot in this new age, especially at a time when they're operating within complex agency structures, saddled with legacy business models,” said R/GA’s Forbes in a statement.

Forbes’ comment is a not-so-subtle shot at IPG, which is set to become part of a holding company behemoth after its acquisition by Omnicom. The $13 billion deal could accelerate an adland-wide shift toward small- and medium-sized agencies, with R/GA rejoining those ranks.

For IPG, the R/GA move follows the December sale of Huge to global private equity firm AEA Investors and the January 2024 sale of Hill Holliday and Deutsch New York to Attivo Group, a New Zealand-based marketing services network.

Truelink’s deal for R/GA also includes a planned investment in the shop’s Innovation Fund to support moves around generative AI. R/GA intends to create an AI-enabled model to serve clients. To that end, it also established a Strategic Advisory Council of senior marketing and technology executives to support opportunities in the buzzy space.

“The dominant industry narrative around AI has focused largely on efficiency gains in the traditional marketing approach, which is only part of the equation. We are leaning into the creative potential to help brands differentiate themselves and exceed rising customer expectations through new kinds of intelligent experiences that haven't been possible before,” said R/GA’s Rolfe in a statement.