http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/johnwren http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/johnwren The International Monetary Fund says the mortgage mess is "the biggest financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression," which means one thing for John Wren, CEO of ad-holding giant Omnicom: acquisition prices for companies in the advertising industry are low, and it's time to get shopping. Wren told analysts on earnings call yesteday that Omnicom will get more active with is wallet “perhaps now, as the economy worsens." Last December, Wren promised Omnicom would, like rivals Publicis Groupe and WPP Group already had, go on something of an acquisition spree in the interactive space. Didn't happen, Wren said, because Publicis and WPP "aggressively paid, in our opinion, uneconomic prices." Unfortunately for Wren, that means that the only companies left are the ones not worth overpaying for.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5028192&view=rss&microfeed=true Omnicom CEO John Wren told media in Palm Beach that ad spending is "holding up well enough. We haven't seen erosion in clients." But apparently doing "well enough" isn't enough for Omnicom to pay employees their usual bonuses. Wren said ad agency would cut into bonuses, rather than lay off employees. Layoffs or bonus cuts, it's clear that clients may be keeping their accounts with Omnicom, but they aren't spending as much. That's bad news for online advertising, which Wren said accounts for 10 to 15 percent of Omnicom client spending.

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