OMD Worldwide, an Omnicom Media Group Agency, has been named Global Media Agency of the Year by Adweek, a leading media and advertising industry publication.
In selecting OMD, Adweek cited the company’s impressive turnaround performance following a very challenging 2017 that saw the historically dominant agency fall to the bottom of all major media analyst rankings. Adweek’s story details the comeback that took place during 2018 – a journey that saw OMD win or retain over $2.6bn of business.
“It’s a great honour to be named Adweek’s Global Media Agency of the Year. Not only did we win more than 300 pitches across all geographies last year, but at the same time we more than doubled our retention rate and improved our client ratings four consecutive times throughout 2018. We also remained the most medalled agency at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. When you put all this together it is simply astonishing,” said Florian Adamski, Global CEO of OMD. “But none of this would have been possible without the hard work, talent and adaptability of our people nor the trust placed in us by our clients and partners. I’m incredibly proud of what we have achieved and look forward to building on this foundation in 2019 and beyond.”
According to Adweek’s story, the turnaround began with key leadership changes, firstly by the appointment of Florian Adamski to Global CEO in late 2017 and laterally as he built out his key executive and regional leadership teams, with a blend of proven talent from within Omnicom and key hires from the wider industry.
‘Better decisions, faster’ became OMD’s new north star – combining brand promise and competitive positioning. To ensure it would be more than a tagline, numerous global initiatives were undertaken to inform every aspect of the business and empower OMD’s talent to deliver against the promise.
The article further credits the joint introduction of a new tech platform (Omni) and media planning process (OMD Design) with the turnaround. Omni is a people-based precision marketing and insight platform created by Omnicom. In parallel, OMD reimagined their planning process, OMD Design, a bespoke process grounded in the practice of empathy. The partnership of best-in-class technology guided by a unique process aims to empower OMD to craft more valued and valuable experiences that deliver better business outcomes.
The Adweek story concludes that, after years of global dominance, despite a difficult 2017, OMD, whose clients include McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Apple and the Renault Nissan Alliance, among many others, has delivered an unprecedented comeback and is once again at the top of its game.
In Asia Pacific, the network’s comeback includes the successful appointment of high-profile businesses such as Suncorp and Belong in Australia; The Warehouse Group in New Zealand; Singtel in Singapore; Wipro and Levi’s in India; and WH Group, Papadai, Toutiao and Amway in China. It is also evidenced by the expansion of the network’s relationship with Beiersdorf across Southeast Asia and the successful retention of the McDonald’s business in China and Taiwan in 2018.
Stephen Li, CEO of OMD APAC, added: “We are thrilled to be back on top after an incredible – and pivotal – year for our network. Throughout 2018, we have taken great strides to ensure that we continue delivering on our value proposition of being true business partners to our clients, driving real business performance for their organisations. This latest accolade is a validation of all our efforts and developments, and represents the cherry on top of what has been a truly successful turnaround for OMD. We look forward to continuing this incredible winning momentum with our clients into 2019 and beyond.”