BotD: Rob Morgan bows out; Meta and LinkedIn bid for more ad dollars; WPP loses Paramount

Jun 05, 2025

Welcome to Best of the Day, on the day when Robert Morgan, the man who could reasonably claim to be Australia’s most accomplished advertising holding company executive of all time, finally called an end to his stellar career with Clemenger Group.

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The Day Today: Rob Morgan moves on; Meta and LinkedIn unveil new tools; ABC sued again

Australia’s longest serving agency boss calls it quits

Rob Morgan will finally leave Clemenger Group

Robert Morgan announced that he will be retiring as chair of Clemenger Group at the end of the month, ending 46 years with the business. Under Morgan, the group became one of the most formidable in Australian advertising with Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Colenso Auckland often recognised as among the world’s best creative agencies. After Omnicom increased its stake in the business to a majority holding in 2010, the group gradually lost some of its magic.

Meta goes hard at ad dollars

Meta announced new AI-driven advertising tools which it says will give advertisers greater control over what campaign priorities are most important. However, how Meta delivers on campaign results will remain something of a black box.

Meanwhile LinkedIn also unveiled a new suite of ad options.

Paramount punts WPP

Entertainment business Paramount, which owns Network Ten in Australia, surprised WPP Media by ending its 20-year relationship, appointing Publicis as its media agency globally. The company’s movie arm and streaming service Paramount+ are both big spenders on media.

ABC accused of exploiting staff with insecure contracts

Journalists’ union the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance launched legal action against the ABC alleging that it is illegally keeping staff on short term contracts.

Nine investigates

Nine announced it was creating a longform investigations unit. Ten is also making moves which seem to be around a new news-based show.

ARN reasserts market cap lead over SCA

After regaining its lead a fortnight ago, ARN Media has widended the gap in its market capitalisation compared to rival Southern Cross Austereo. ARN gained 1.9% to land on a market cap of $163m whil SCA faded by 1.6% to land on $151m, a gap of $12m.

Meanwhile, shares in research house Pureprofile jumped by 10.5% to a market cap of $44m after value investor Danny Kontos revealed that he had increased his stake again, to 18.2%.

Ooh Media lost 1.5%, taking its market cap back below $900m again.