• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 26, 2005

Omnicom Friday unveiled a global restructuring of the Omnicom Media Group and a "major global expansion" of its PHD unit in an effort to turn it into an alternative global media network to its flagship OMD. As part of the move, Joe Uva, CEO of Omnicom's OMD Worldwide, was named president of the Omnicom Media Group, reporting to chairman-CEO Daryl Simm.

PHD, a major player in the U.K. and North America, will be rolled out across Asia Pacific, continental Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The overseas expansion is slated to begin in the fourth quarter, with most markets in Asia Pacific and Europe to be completed by early 2006.

Concurrent with the international rollout of PHD, Omnicom said it would begin integrating Omnicom Media Group's corporate-level oversight regionally and locally across Europe and Asia Pacific.

Omnicom Media Group is a centralized corporate command that oversees research, digital, and emerging media operations, sponsorship, and entertainment development for the Omnicom media units, as well as OPERA, a corporate-level media negotiating arm designed to leverage the combined scale of OMD and PHD. OPERA, which has mainly been operative in Europe, is similar to Interpublic's Magna Global unit.

Each of the Big 3 agency holding companies--Interpublic, Omnicom, and WPP Group (Group M) have been expanding or restructuring their corporate-level media oversight. Recently, Interpublic recruited former MTV Networks veteran Mark Rosenthal to oversee Interpublic's media operations, which primarily include Magna, Initiative, and Universal McCann, and is expected to unveil a new plan later this year or early next year.

Group M has kept its plans close to its vest, but recently absorbed MediaCom Worldwide into its portfolio, following WPP's acquisition of parent Grey Global. Group M currently oversees MediaCom, MindShare, Mediaedge:cia, and Maxus.

Recently, Publicis Groupe created Publicis Groupe Media, a corporate-level unit to oversee and manage its burgeoning media networks and develop corporate-level media initiatives. To date, Publicis Groupe Media has been relatively hands-off with its media operations, but some executives have begun alluding to a bigger role, particularly for new media initiatives and ventures. Last week, Publicis confirmed that it has held preliminary discussions about acquiring Aegis Group (see related story in today's MDN), which would grow its media services holdings significantly.

Omnicom, meanwhile, said it plans to grow its media services operations organically.

"This approach allows us to provide alternative media network solutions to meet individual client needs," John Wren, CEO of Omnicom, said about the new plan. "And whether their preference is OMD or PHD, we want all our media clients to benefit from the full scale and resources of our Group."

As part of the restructuring of the Omnicom Media Group, another OMD executive, CFO Mark Amabile, was named CFO of the group, and a new group global board has been formed. In addition to Simm, Uva, and Amabile, the board includes: David Pattison, PHD Worldwide CEO; Colin Gottlieb, Omnicom Media Group Europe CEO; and Mike Cooper, Omnicom Media Group Asia Pacific CEO.