Thinking Fast and Slow, Bonjour to the Publicis Omnicom Group, E2Open Acquires icon-scm

I've finally gone and ordered my copy of Thinking Fast and Slow after reading the fourth installment of Peter's Spend Matters PRO series that looks at Nobel Prize winner Daniel Khaneman's book from a procurement perspective. Here's a list of the whole series (subscription content):

• Risky Business – Our Illogical Attitudes to Risk, Regret, and Gambling 
• Hone Your Negotiation Skills By Learning the Right Way to Think 
• Thinking (about Procurement) Fast and Slow with Daniel Kahneman 
• Thinking (about Procurement) Fast and Slow with Daniel Kahneman (Part 2)

Bonjour, massive new ad giant! Publicis Groupe (incidentally, my former employer) and Omnicom are merging into the Publicis Omnicom Group (we're surprised Maurice Levy allowed the removal of that feminine "e" at the end of group). There was tons of Spend Matters/Spend Matters PRO coverage this week, but I'll admit the former creative in me geeked out over the perspectives on AdAge. Procurement-wise, though, here are our thoughts:

• Omnicom and Publicis Groupe Merger: Advertising Spend Advice 
• Procurement Perspectives on the Omnicom/Publicis Merger: Expert Interview 
• [subscription content] Top 10 Marketing and Procurement Lessons from the Publicis Omnicom Merger

In other M&A news, E2open has acquired icon-scm, and there's "more than meets the eye" according to Spend Matters analyst Pierre Mitchell. "...why would E2Open pay a premium to acquire a niche vendor with somewhat overlapping functionality in an industry where it’s already a mindshare leader – especially given that icm-scm is more of a traditional on-premise oriented applications vendor?"

As far as general office chatter, we've started playing in a 16-in softball league here in Chicago (which, in my opinion, may as well be played with a cantaloupe. The ball, incidentally, is just to the left of the cantaloupe in this photo).

Image: wbez.org

We lost by one run to last week's formidable opponent, Purple Reign, but we're hoping to improve as the season goes on. Further recaps and procurement tidbits can be found in our bi-monthly newsletter, Dirty Rotten Spendrels.