Tanya Dua

Once high-flying Mic raised $60 million to build a media company to target millennials, but it <a id="e6dbaef2-c698-37ec-a3f9-25f548837efc" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-publisher-mic-was-a-victim-of-facebook-canceling-its-news-show-and-more-shows-could-be-next-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> sold to Bustle Media Group for a reported $5 million </a> . The deal struck resemblance to another new-media darling Mashable that sold at this time a year ago for about $40 million, one fifth of its onetime value.

Now, the buzz is that other investor-backed companies such as Refinery29, Vox Media, and Vice Media might look for an exit. Refinery29 and Vice said they're not for sale. Vox said it would evaluate opportunities to "acquire or partner" with companies in 2019.

To read more about how Mic's sale has the media business buzzing with rumors of potential deals,

The spirit of creative disruption that characterizes Burning Man is akin to the changes sweeping through the advertising industry today, Sir Martin Sorrell said at Business Insider's IGNITION Conference.

David Levy said television needs to be rethought as people increasingly view shows on all kinds of devices, and that the AT&amp;T-Time Warner deal will help Turner better serve viewers with better ads, he said.

Sarah Harden, president of Reese Witherspoon's media brand Hello Sunshine, also said it has projects in the works for Apple, Hulu and Amazon.

Hulu will add more subscribers in the second half of the year than it did in the first half, CEO Randy Freer said at IGNITION.

<a id="33c81f9e-003f-33a4-a9bb-3b973302d244" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/roku?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> Roku </a> executive Scott Rosenberg was interviewed Tuesday at Business Insider's <a id="b966db22-2ca6-3941-ad55-399cd0993276" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/ignition-2018?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> IGNITION 2018 </a> conference about his role in driving the company's advertising revenue.

Blavity startup cofounder Aaron Samuels has raised $8.5 million spoke at IGNITION about what he has to do to get his company to the next step, and why he's 'terrified.'

18 months since becoming Etsy's CEO, Josh Silverman has turned Etsy's stock around by restructuring the company and cutting departments like Etsy Studio, a 150-person team that focused on craft supplies.

The company is now comprised of Verizon Consumer Group, Verizon Business Group, and Verizon Media Group.

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<ul><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/advertising-news-today-charter-ceo-martin-sorrells-mightyhive-acquisition-2018-12?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">What you need to know in advertising today</a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/advertising-news-today-mics-shutdown-holiday-ad-spending-11-30-2018?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">What you need to know in advertising today</a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/advertising-news-today-comscore-and-nielsen-leadership-holiday-shopping-stats-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">What you need to know in advertising today</a> </li></ul>

A lot of digital media companies are said to be looking for buyers, facing the same pressures that forced Mic to sell at a fire sale. But the Mic sale, combined with overall business pressures, suggest they won't get the price they hope for.

What you need to know in advertising today

What does the advertising industry have in common with Burning Man? More than you'd think, according to Sir Martin Sorrell.

The spirit of creative disruption that characterizes the <a id="11771efd-06af-37d0-a8e6-40af86a282b3" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-going-to-burning-man-for-first-time-photos-2018-9?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> annual pop-up creativity festival </a> is akin to the massive changes currently sweeping through the advertising industry, the former WPP chief said in a conversation with Business Insider UK editor-in-chief Jim Edwards at Business Insider's IGNITION Conference in New York on Tuesday.

"There's a strange sort of analogy between our industry and what you see at Burning Man," Sorrell, who said he had attended the festival three times himself, told Edwards. "What it symbolizes to me is creative disruption."

The head of S4 Capital, <a id="d78c2a19-ba1c-313b-a2be-c16dba00a555" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/dec/04/martin-sorrell-s4-mightyhive-wpp"> which just announced its second acquisition in the form of ad tech company MightyHive Tuesday morning </a> , said that "there has to be a radical change" in the advertising industry.

"Some people refer to it evolutionary ... I think it's revolutionary," he said. "The pace at which it is happening is so intense and so quick, that it's revolutionary, and that's one of the things that I experienced at WPP."

With MightyHive – which specialises in programmatic advertising – and MediaMonks on its roster, S4 Capital can now seemingly offer full-service digital marketing capabilities. But the "acid test" for the firm would be whether it generates significant differentiation for its clients, Sorrell, who departed from WPP earlier this year, said.

"The acid test of S4 will not be acquiring MediaMonks, not acquiring or MightyHive ... it will be whether the combination works effectively and whether it has correctly analyzed what clients want."

Sorrell also shared anecdotes of how S4 has been going around pitching itself to investors, saying that the firm was at an advantage as it doesn't face any of the challenges that other incumbent legacy advertising businesses inherently come with.

He recently told an investment institution, for instance, that with a legacy business, "it's like trying to weld aircraft carriers together as opposed to a motor torpedo boat," a thinly-veiled swipe at his former company WPP, <a id="61624bf3-e178-3dc0-a7c3-9e24d9afbebb" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ad-industry-executives-sound-off-on-jwt-and-wunderman-merger-2018-11?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest"> which has been trying to simplify its various networks and revive growth by merging entities together. </a>

That investor then apparently responded with his own version of the analogy, according to Sir Sorrell, saying that "when you put the two dead birds together, you may have four wings, but it doesn't mean that you can fly."

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Sir Martin Sorrell says the advertising industry reminds him of Burning Man, and should embrace ‘radical change’

Being a high-flying executive as well as a parent is a tough balancing act. Just ask Wendy Clark, the first female global CEO of ad holding company Omnicom Group's DDB agency network — and a mother of three.

Speaking at Business Insider's IGNITION Conference in New York on Monday, the ad executive admitted that the long hours and the constant flights that are part of the job, are often accompanied by guilt.

"That voice, that 'Debbie Downer in your head,' never goes away," said Clark. "But what I say is that you gotta shut that b***h up."

Clark said she learned how to deal with the guilt better with age. And having technology at her disposal that lets her constantly be in the loop has helped.

"Age has given me the ability to control her more," she said. "And technology allows you to show wherever you are."

Clark said she's been able to balance between her professional and personal pursuits by integrating her family with her work when possible. Her children, for instance, joined her on a recent business trip to London.

"I’ve always worked ... they’ve grown up this way," she said. "Making it part of your kids’ lives instead of saying, 'This is my life and I’m not sure what you’re doing,' where we all do it together either virtually or in person — that’s what we try and do."

Clark also talked about the lack of diversity and representation of women in senior leadership. DDB was moving "away from a narrative," toward "actions and accountability," she said, pointing at the fact that it had placed 30 women in executive roles worldwide out of about 52 roles in 2018.

"I'm not quite positive there's going to be one tipping point — I believe every single day we’re working harder, we’re driving more outcome," she said.

She <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ddbs-wendy-clark-says-the-ad-agency-of-the-future-needs-to-be-flexible-2018-12?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest" id="723aaf13-35e6-3651-a43a-4ef8481eeaeb"> also addressed </a> DDB using former Droga5 CCO Ted Royer as a freelancer on a pitch last month, which received some blowback. Without naming Royer, she admitted that hiring Royer was a "mistake," and said it was something she had talked about with DDB employees.

"What we can’t do is be afraid of failing. We have to have a learning culture where we share how we arrived at a wrong decision or how we failed and then make sure that we’re moving forward," she said. "It’s important that they see me in a moment where I’ve made a decision that was not the right decision, owned that, and moved forward."

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The first female global CEO of a big ad agency says even at the top, she battles a little voice of doubt in her head: 'You gotta shut that b***h up'

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Tanya Dua

Articles written by the author

What you need to know in advertising today

Sir Martin Sorrell says the advertising industry reminds him of Burning Man, and should embrace ‘radical change’

The first female global CEO of a big ad agency says even at the top, she battles a little voice of doubt in her head: 'You gotta shut that b***h up'