LOS ANGELES — Interpublic has merged R&CPMK with experiential agency Advantage, the latest in a series of moves to streamline the holding company’s PR and marketing firms’ operations.

The merger, which essentially folds Advantage into R&CPMK, will expand R&CPMK’s offerings in Advantage’s areas of expertise — creative, experiential & event marketing and sponsorship. IPG Dxtra, which houses IPG’s PR agencies, will retire the Advantage name.

The move will bring together R&CPMK’s existing creative services division with Advantage’s Creative Studio, boosting the entertainment and brand comms firm production capabilities.

Advantage executive creative director Jaime Cabrera will oversee the new R&CPMK Creative Studio. His responsibilities include leading integrated global creative strategy and campaign development, as well as social content and immersive new media concepts, experiential event design, and logo development.

Led by executive VP of brand growth and experiential Victoria Greene, the brand experience team will focus on sponsorship consulting and experiential marketing, and will be supported by senior VPs Jennifer Piran and Scot Weintraub, as well as VP Jason Girone. 

“From adding distinctive new practices such as influencer marketing and multicultural communications, to the continued growth of our industry leading integrated marketing and talent communications divisions, we have taken bold steps over the past five-years to significantly enhance our footprint across the industry in an effort to always provide superior and strategically curated services to our clients,” said R&CPMK CEO Mark Owens.  “Joining Advantage’s award-winning creative, experiential marketing, and sponsorship consulting services with R&CPMK’s unprecedented marketing and communications capabilities, allows us to continue this evolution, and provide an elevated and unmatched offering.”

The merger is the latest step in the evolution of IPG’s PR and marketing group since Andy Polansky was named chairman in 2019.

Since that time, Polansky has moved to restructure leadership and streamline operations, which has included the mergers of Rogers & Cowan and PMK·BNC and DeVries Global with Golin subsidiary Canvas Blue.

 
The PR and marketing divison, formerly IPG’s Constituent Management Group, rebranded as IPG Dxtra in October. IPG Dxtra oversees 28 agencies including PR firms Weber Shandwick, Golin, DeVries, Current Global and R&C PMK.