• by Joe Mandese , November 14, 2006

If new business is the lifeblood of Madison Avenue, ad agencies are proving their vitality, especially some big media shops. That, at least, is what they are reporting publicly. Drill beneath the surface and you'll find shops like Mediaedge:cia, Starcom MediaVest Group, Carat and MindShare are leading the pack.

Mediaedge:cia, in fact, has had the strongest new business pitch record over the 18-month period through the middle of 2006, according to new estimates released Tuesday by RECMA, the Paris-based research firm that calculates media agency billings and competitive performance.

The analysis, which assesses the competitiveness of media shops in new business wins and losses, assigned 353 pitch "points" to Mediaedge:cia, giving it a top-ranking and setting the new business market index at 100 for the period analyzed (see table below).

Starcom MediaVest Group with 304 points, Carat (293 points) and MindShare (289 points) were close behind, according to the RECMA analysis.

However, an extrapolation more recent RECMA data by Carat parent Aegis Group estimated that Carat has had the best new business record through the first 10-months of 2006, and that it has catapulted into the No. 2 position in media agency billings as a result of recent big account wins such as Wal-Mart and General Motors.

The RECMA report also breaks down the regional new business performance of 426 media shops operating in 39 countries covering more than 5000 individual account moves.

On a holding company level, WPP's GroupM unit is the strongest new business performer with 903 points over the 18-month period. Publicis Groupe was No. 2 with 560 points followed by Aegis Group's 419 points.

"Net new business strong for everyone," Merrill Lynch analyst Lauren Rich Fine reported in a note issued to investors Tuesday morning. However, she also pointed out that claims for new business gains might not be as transparent as some agencies report them to be.

"We note that trends in net new business continued to be strong for all agencies across the board, according to them," she wrote, adding, "Not all disclose their net new business and calculations vary among the firms; as such, we question how all can claim success.

Competitiveness In New Business Pitches

                   Points
Index  
Mediaedge:cia         353         100  
Starcom MediaVest     304          86  
Carat                 293          83  
MindShare             289          82  
OMD
263          74  
MediaCom              261          74  
ZenithOptimedia       256          73  
Initiative            208          59  
MPG                   197          56

Universal McCann      140          40  
PHD                   128          36  
Vizeum                126          36  

Source: RECMA.