Omnicom takes on Publicis’ Epsilon with Omni + Acxiom

Omnicom’s takeover of Interpublic Group (IPG) was always about scale, but the company has now revealed how it plans to regain an edge in a marketing world increasingly shaped by data, identity, and AI.

Running through most of the new Omnicom’s announcement is a single theme: a return to competitiveness powered by its intelligence platform, Omni. But the real coup lies in what it inherited from IPG — Acxiom, the $2 billion data marketing company IPG bought in 2018.

For years, Publicis has outpaced its rivals with Epsilon, its identity-based data business that helps marketers recognise the same customer across devices, platforms, and touchpoints without relying on third-party cookies.

By stitching Acxiom into Omni, Omnicom may finally match that capability. It claims the combined system can merge paid, owned, earned, and commerce signals into one layer built largely on first-party data and reducing dependence on third-party identifiers.

In theory, that means brands could follow a customer from the moment they see an ad to the moment they make a purchase, whether online or in-store.

As Omnicom puts it in its release, the combined stack “will unify paid, owned, earned, and commerce channels into a seamless system that drives value, precision, and measurable growth in a privacy-first world.”