- More than 7,000 accounts changing hands across 300+ agencies
- McCann finished Number One amongst all creative and digital agencies, with strong performances from DDB and Wieden+Kennedy
- Mindshare led media agencies, retaining Unilever and winning new assignments from General Mills and 120 others
- WPP led the Holding Company table with Omnicom the closest pursuer
NEW YORK – Jan 31st, 2016 – It was a dynamic year for account reviews amongst agencies globally, with 7,000 individual reviews tracked in the R3 New Business League table. “Marketers were constantly looking for the right mix of creative, digital, media and social partners, and this year was the most active we’ve measured to date” said Greg Paull, Principal of R3. “Despite the huge number of global media reviews in the last twelve months, we believe there could be a second wave this year as more and more marketers are seeking reassurance for their media value” he added.
WPP leads overall. Omnicom and IPG follows
WPP agencies led the way, with $603m in total New Business revenue, led by a strong performance from most of their creative agencies. “From Ogilvy to Y&R to J Walter Thompson to Grey, WPP’s creative agencies won more than 1,500 assignments across six continents,” said Mr Paull. Yet WPP’s performance was only 3.5% of their revenues, compared to Interpublic (5.5%), Havas (8.2%) and MDC (8.4%). “MDC had more than their fair share of internal challenges at the holding company level, but the individual agencies had a strong year with wins including American Airlines, Unilever and New York Life” he added.
McCann leads amongst Creative and Digital Agencies
McCann Erickson was a surprise leader amongst all creative and digital agencies, winning more than 491 assignments across 60+ countries. “McCann continue to have so many business tentacles with which to build relationships, they continue to lead the way in prospecting” mentioned Mr Paull. Closely following the IPG agency was Omnicom’s DDB and independent Wieden+Kennedy. “Wieden won twenty times less the number of accounts as McCann, but in securing bug wins from Unilever, Nurofen and Samsung, they were able to close the gap,” he added.
Mindshare takes top spot amongst media agencies
WPP’s Mindshare led the way amongst media agencies, despite winning far fewer assignments than second placed OMD, or third placed Carat. “Mindshare retained the world’s second largest advertiser, Unilever, in most markets, and expanded into General Mills, and other regional assignments” said Mr Paull. All of the top ten media wins to change hands in 2015 were part of the so-called “Mediapalooza,” a series of twenty two global reviews through the summer of 2015. “These pitches defined the global media agency scene for this year – but time will tell if other marketers will follow suit as they seek out value,” he added.
R3’s projection for 2016 is that while media reviews will continue, there should be an uptake in Digital AOR reviews. “CMO’s are going to spend more on digital in the next five years than CIOs,” said Mr Paull. “Companies are going to need to review and find long term digital partners to help them in this journey,” he added.
ABOUT R3
R3 is a leader in global, regional and local consulting on Best Practice in marketing effectiveness and efficiencies. We work with nine of the world’s top twenty marketers including Coca-Cola, Unilever, AB InBev, MasterCard, Mercedes Benz, Johnson & Johnson, Samsung and Kimberly Clark.
For more information, visit www.rthree.com, or contact Erin Singleton at [email protected] or +1 646 416 8088.
