_{H2 2023 new-biz review: media activity in Europe soars despite global fall}

Campaign rounds up the top-performing agencies and overall media new-business activity in July-December.

By Jamie Rossouw

The second half of 2023 saw a continued global decline in media new-business activity, following H1's significant 24.4% drop in billings. The decline slowed in H2, dropping 5.6% to a total of $14.64bn in H2 2023, compared with the same period in 2022 ($15.51bn total).

But the overall decline would have been more pronounced had some regions not bucked the downward trend. Europe was an outlier, increasing its billings by a staggering 44.8% to $6.55bn from $4.53bn in H2 2022.

This is largely due to major accounts changing hands in Germany, with big FMCG companies re-evaluating their agency rosters, such as Nivea-owner Beiersdorf and supermarket Lidl.

Europe’s H2 billings were in stark contrast to the decline seen here in the first half of 2023, when billings dropped by 44.4%.

In other regions, North America and Asia-Pacific – the usual big players in the media new-business market – experienced a drop in new-business investment in the last six months of 2023.

The US and Canada, despite enjoying a climb in activity (29.2%) in the first half of the year, saw billings drop by 6.6% from $5.51bn to $5.14bn in H2 2023

Meanwhile, media activity in Asia-Pacific continued to dwindle, following a 22.1% downturn in activity in H1. The second half of the year was even tougher, with a 30.2% decline in billings to $1.90bn from $2.72bn in H2 2022.

Campaign has collated the top-performing media agencies globally in the second half of the year by estimated gross new-business billings. (A review of the creative new-business landscape will be published in the coming weeks.)

The five most active agencies all generated over $1bn in billings and were collectively responsible for $5.56bn, or 35.8%, of global media new-business activity in the last six months of 2023. While the top agency in the table actually recorded a decrease in overall billings, three displayed growth.

Campaign Advertising Intelligence includes multiple sources of new-business wins. COMvergence became a source for media wins from May 2023, with R3 providing creative figures up to the end of the year. The tool also includes direct submissions from agencies and holding groups. All data was researched and combined.

While the media data is in line with COMvergence revisions of existing accounts, it does not include new 2023 accounts added after February 2024. These additional 2023 wins will be processed on Campaign AI alongside the newest data later in 2024.

Due to these differences and timings, reporting may differ slightly between Campaign AI, COMvergence and R3.

PHD: activity climbs

Omnicom-owned PHD was one of the three agencies to go against the global trend and see an increase in media new-business activity.

Global billings shot up to $1.04bn in the second half of 2023. This is three times higher than in H2 2022 when billings stood at $334.3m.

PHD secured almost half of its billings from its activity in North America. The agency generated $479.6m or 46.2% of its global billings in the region.

Uber was the biggest victory for PHD. The majority of the global account was awarded to Omnicom Media Group, with PHD as the lead agency for 15 of the 22 markets won by the network.

The global account is worth $622.9m, with OMG handling North America, Europe and Latin America ($561.1m).

PHD will lead on the two markets with the largest share of the billings, the US and UK valued at $305.1m and $85.3m respectively.

The remaining $101.8m of the account was allocated to the Asia-Pacific region, where incumbent EssenceMedia retained the media business.

Notably, this is an undoing of Uber's decision to expand its media partnership with MediaCom (now EssenceMediacom) in 2020, when it named the shop its global agency of record.

PHD also landed baked goods company Grupo Bimbo, which consolidated its $267.9m global media account into PHD after parting ways with several agencies, including Publicis Groupe’s Starcom and Zenith.

The account spans the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Mexico, Grupo Bimbo’s home market, received the largest share of the account, valued at $114.6m and representing 42.8% of the account. Meanwhile, the US followed closely with the business valued at $112.9m.

Another big score for the agency was the retention of HSBC. Following fierce competition between Omnicom and WPP, it was announced in September 2023 that PHD had succeeded in holding on to the global media business.

PHD first won the account in 2018 following the bank's 13-year stint with WPP's Mindshare.

The account won by PHD was valued at $119.9.4m and spans Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and North America.

Hong Kong walked away with the biggest share, valued at $26.5m and representing 19% of the account. The UK and the wider Chinese market followed with billings worth $22m and $20m respectively.

Carat: Kraft Heinz success

In common with other agencies, Carat recorded a downtick in new-business media activity: billings in July-December 2023 dropped by 16.3% to $1.05bn from $1.25bn H2 2022.

That said, there were notable moves, particularly in North America, which represented more than half (58.3%) of Carat’s global billings.

The biggest win was Kraft Heinz.

Following a pitch in 2020, Carat became Kraft Heinz’s global media partner in Canada and its global markets, while Publicis-owned Starcom retained the US business.

But in September 2023 , Kraft Heinz decided to move to one media agency partner and Carat took over the US account from incumbent Starcom – business valued at $368.2m.

Another big win, and still in the realm of food, was Papa Johns. The pizza chain moved its US account, valued at $243.1m, from Havas Media to Carat.

On the other side of the world, Carat landed the account for beer brewing company Carlsberg in China worth $110.8m. Interpublic’s Initiative was the incumbent.

Wavemaker: big retentions

In H2 2023, Wavemaker saw an increase in global media billings to $1.1bn, a 27.4% increase on the $856m in H2 2022.

Wavemaker's success largely came from big wins in Europe. The region represented 46.8% of its global billings, reaching $510.3m.

The shop's biggest win was the retention of long-standing client Church & Dwight, further extending their 18-year relationship.

The shop retained the business in Canada, France, the UK and the US. The four markets were collectively valued at $261.3m. Its home market, the US, received the majority share, valued at $232.4m.

Wavemaker also holds media accounts for the brand in other parts of Europe and Asia-Pacific, for which there has not been a recent pitch.

On the importance of keeping existing clients, Hamish Davies, global chief growth and marketing officer at Wavemaker, said: “Anyone working in new business will agree that retaining a client is often more difficult (and often more rewarding) than winning a new account.”

Further iterating Wavemaker’s success in Europe, the consolidation of Aldi was another key win. The supermarket shifted five European countries into one agency, collectively worth $173.2m.

France had the bigger billings attached to it, worth $77.6m or 44.8% of the account. It was previously with independent shop CoSpirit Groupe.

Meanwhile, Lidl’s sibling supermarket Kaufland had the same idea. It retained Wavemaker as its media partner in its home market Germany valued at $125m.

Starcom: riding away with BMW for the third time

Starcom was a key player in the second half of 2023, with billings climbing 28.6% from $913.2m to $1.17bn.

The spotlight was on its existing clients as the two biggest moves were both retentions.

The Publicis agency held on to BMW in China for the third time, the account valued at $250m further extending its eight-year partnership with the brand.

Kellanova was another client that decided to keep its media business with Starcom.

In late 2023, it was announced that Kellogg Company would split its cereal and snack brands. While the cereals remain with the Kellogg’s name, the snacks side is now housed under Kellanova and both sides now operate as separate entities.

During this change, Kellanova re-evaluated its agency roster and capabilities and retained Starcom as its media agency in the US and Canada.

The US side is valued at $215.5m and Canada $15.9m. Starcom works with brands such as Pringles, Pop-Tarts and Cheez-It.

As for new clients, genealogy company Ancestry.com consolidated its global media business with Publicis Vita, a bespoke unit powered by Starcom. The account, valued at $138.5m, gives the US the lion's share worth $114.2m; the UK’s portion is valued at $18.3m. Starcom will also look after Canada and New Zealand.

This consolidation follows the decision to bring together the US and UK business under Brian Donnelly, chief commercial officer at Ancestry.com (based in the US) as the single leader. During this time he sought to re-evaluate the company’s agency model across the two markets.

Kellanova and Ancestry.com were a large contributing factor to Wavemaker’s success in North America. The agency generated $504m billings in the region, representing 42.9% of the shop's global total.

OMD: in pole position

Omnicom-owned OMD continued its strong streak from H1 into the second half of the year as it once again took first place as the most active media agency.

That said, unlike at the beginning of 2023, its overall new-business billings followed the wider downward trend during the second half of the year. Global billings were down 41.7% from $2.06bn in H2 2022 compared with the $1.20bn in H2 of 2023.

Despite the drop in activity, the agency was still successful in snapping up big clients, particularly in Europe, where half (57.5%) of its billings came from ($691.9m).

Skincare giant Beiersdorf was a key appointment here. The company named OMD its “single bespoke media agency” in North America and Europe.

The account is valued at $608.4m with its home market of Germany providing the biggest share, worth $189.5m – a third (31.1%) of the global total.

This appointment further extends the relationship OMD has with the Nivea owner, which appointed the shop as its media agency of record in parts of Asia-Pacific in early 2023.

Another big win in Europe included Lidl, which retained OMD as its media agency in the UK and Italy, worth $120m and $60.8m respectively.

Meanwhile, across the pond, OMD further expanded its relationship with Disney+ and took on parts of the account originally won by Publicis-owned Zenith in 2019, when Disney+ first split the account between the two groups.

The account is valued at $157.9m.