MediaFile

Google Inc.’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. has been greeted with jeers and criticism by some digital-privacy advocates who say it will allow advertisers to collect way too much data on consumers.

Even top advertising executives — including WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell — have expressed concern over the combination.

But Omnicom Group’s CEO John Wren is one ad man who has a different take, saying the combination will be good for the industry since it’ll bring the privacy issue front and center. He even called the deal “pretty cool,” which, compared to the criticism it has taken elsewhere, sounds like a ringing endorsement.

What’s Wren thinking?

“What it’s going to raise — and this will be a very good conversation in the marketplace — are privacy concerns. The technology that exists far exceeds the laws and thinking of the people that are going to be impacted by it,” he told investors on a conference call.

Wren welcomed what he said would be a healthy debate that will ultimately clarify privacy laws when it comes to consumer information on the Internet.

“I’m encouraged by the deal, because I’m most encouraged by the discussion that the deal is going to cause the marketplace to have. Any definition will be positive for us.”