LONDON and NEW YORK — OMD has been named Global Media Agency of the Year 2019 by Adweek, a leading advertising industry publication. Adweek cited the company’s impressive turnaround performance following a challenging 2017 that saw the historically dominant agency fall to the bottom of major media analyst rankings. Adweek’s story details the comeback that took place during 2018 – a journey that saw OMD win or retain over $2.6b of business.
“It’s a great honor 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 medaled 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 including the appointment of Florian Adamski to Global CEO in late 2017 and the subsequent development of a new brand promise and competitive positioning, Better decisions, faster.
The article further credits numerous global initiatives undertaken across the business and the joint introduction of a new tech platform (Omni) and media planning process (OMD Design) with the turnaround.
The 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.
