MediaCom Is The New Pitch King

WPP’s MediaCom is top-ranked in RECMA’s just-issued “Compitches 2013” report, which assesses media agency performance in competitive pitches around the world. The agency, which rose from fifth place the previous year, dethroned Omnicom’s OMD, which held the top ranking in 2012, but fell to fourth place in a tie with WPP’s Mindshare in 2013.

The rankings take into account client budgets, contenders, scope of work, number of markets in the pitch and other metrics. U.S. pitches count the most in terms of weighting, followed by China, the UK, Germany and France. A dozen other markets receive somewhat greater weighting than the rest of the world.

According to the report, MediaCom was also the most competitive shop over the last three-year period, followed by OMD, Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia, Aegis Media’s Carat and Interpublic’s UM.

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At the holding company level, WPP’s GroupM had the best performance in 2013, accounting for 31% of the total points distributed between the six holding company groups: WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, Interpublic, Havas and Dentsu Aegis.

The report noted that the proposed combination of Publicis and Omnicom Group (POG), which is 37% bigger than GroupM on a billings basis, showed slightly lower performance than GroupM -- garnering 29% of the total points distributed in the assessment.

The Compitches report graded 700 media agencies throughout 44 countries. Some 3,000 account shifts were examined in the 2013 period.

The report noted that MediaCom achieved its top ranking with strength outside the U.S., the most heavily weighted market where the shop was just “average.”

As for OMD, RECMA concluded that the shop had a “quiet year and few international wins, mostly driven from the USA at the end of the year.”

Carat climbed from fourth place to second place in 2013, and “increased its position having a top score in the USA,” as well as winning significant international accounts, including Reckitt Benckiser for the first time in several markets, Procter & Gamble in Italy, among others.

ZenithOptimedia rose to third place in the 2013 rankings after winning a number of international pitches, including Bacardi, Daimler, Clarins and SCA, per the report.

More on RECMA’s latest Compitches report can be found at its Web site.

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