• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 16, 2004

By a considerable margin, the Omnicom Media Group - OMD and PHD - dominated all of the major media-related advertising awards competitions that took place throughout the world over the past year, according to a new report compiling the results. The report, the Gunn Report for Media, is a media-centric version of the Gunn Report, a publication that has compiled the leading advertising creative awards competitions around the world for several years.

Omnicom Media Group's results were fueled by OMD, which also dominated the individual agency media-related awards wins by a margin of two-to-one over its next closest competitor, Publicis' Starcom unit. Among the big agency group's media networks, the Publicis Media Group, which also includes ZenithOptimedia Group, placed second behind Omnicom, followed by WPP's Group M (MindShare, Mediaedge:cia and Maxus), MediaCom (soon to be part of Group M), Initiative, Universal McCann, Japan's Dentsu Media and Aegis (Carat and Vizeum).

Global Media Agency Ranked By Awards Competition

Rank       Media Agency Network        Points 
1          OMD                            110 
2
Starcom                         53 
3          ZenithOptimedia                 50 
4          MindShare                       48 
5          BBDO*                           37 
6 (T)
TBWA**                          29 
6 (T)      MediaCom                        27 
8          Mediaedge:cia                   25 
9          Leo Burnett***                  22 
18
Wieden & Kennedy                12 
22         The Media Kitchen                8 

Source: Gunn Report for Media. Agencies ranked by their performance in the world's 31 top award contests, including MEDIA magazine's Creative Media Awards. *BBDO is affiliated with PHD in the U.S. **TBWA is affiliated with OMD in the U.S. ***Leo Burnett is affiliated with Starcom in the U.S.(T) = tie.

The Gunn Report for Media, which was unveiled earlier this year during the Cannes Lions awards, was sponsored by Procter & Gamble, which has sought to take a leadership position in the area of media creativity. The report includes media awards from such well-known competitions as the Cannes Lions, the Clios and the Effies, as well as MEDIA magazine's Creative Media Awards.

While Omnicom and OMD dominated the results, the findings are good news for all media agencies because it signals that media truly is becoming recognizes as enough of a creative process to justify an array of media awards competitions. In a forward to the report entitled "The Art of the Connection," P&G Manager of Global Media and Communication Bernhard Glock noted, "It has become extremely clear that the media channels we use to connect to our consumers are as vital as the creative content we deliver to them. As consumers gain more control over their media consumption, and as more content and messages vie for their attention, the path to our core consumers becomes increasingly complex.

"We understand that the art of the connection, or contact, requires more insight and creativity than ever before. Simply, the innovation of the media plan must parallel the innovation of the creative messaging and content."

To a certain extent, the compilation does not necessarily reflect the most outstanding media work of the best media shops. It only reflects those that have competed in awards competitions, many of which reside in disparate geographic regions. In fact, the U.K. market dominated the competition results, which reflect the fact that some regions are more awards competition prone than others.

Nonetheless, Isabelle Musnik, editor of the report, noted that existence of the report is proof of the growing strategic value of media.

"In a world where consumers increasingly exert more control over the messages they receive (through changing channels, fast-forwarding through commercials, or just tuning ads out), the act of reaching a consumer requires as much innovation and strategy as the creative messages carried by the advertising. We all know from our own experience how messages fail to reach us with increasing frequency," she wrote, adding, "Put another way, contact has become as critical to the success of a marketing campaign as content, and media is more and more the message. The right connection can make or break a campaign, and indeed, a brand."

Global Media Agency Networks Ranked By Awards Competition

Rank       Media Agency Network        Points 
1          Omnicom Media Group*           123 
2          Publicis Media Group**         105

3          Group M***                      73 
4          MediaCom                        29 
5          Initiative                      23 
6 (T)      Universal McCann                22

6 (T)      Dentsu Media                    22 
8          Aegis****                       14 
9          MPG                              7 

Source: Gunn Report for Media. Agencies ranked by their performance in the world's 31 top award contests, including MEDIA magazine's Creative Media Awards. *OMD, PHD. **Starcom MediaVest Group, ZenithOptimedia Group. ***MindShare, Mediaedge:cia, Maxus. ****Carat, Vizeum. (T) = tie.