New Business League: Full-year 2015 results and analysis

It was another dynamic year for account reviews amongst agencies in the Asia Pacific region, with 4,964 individual reviews tracked in the Campaign / R3 New Business League table.

Marketers in the region were constantly looking for the right mix of creative, digital, media and social partners, and this year was the most active we’ve measured to date. Despite the huge number of global media reviews in the last 12 months, we believe there could be a second wave this year as more and more marketers are seeking reassurance for their media value.

Other highlights:

• Overall new business is 16 percent up on 2015, with the 'Mediapalooza' and 13 percent more creative reviews than the previous year.
• Ogilvy finished first amongst all creative and digital agencies, while McCann and Y&R also improved.
• PHD led media agencies, retaining Unilever Greater China and winning new assignments from SC Johnson and Ferrero.
• WPP led the holding company table with Omnicom the closest pursuer.

WPP leads overall. Omnicom follows

As in previous years, WPP agencies led the way, with $252 million in total new business revenue, led by a strong performance from most of its creative agencies. From Ogilvy to Y&R to J. Walter Thompson to Grey, WPP’s creative agencies won more than 1,000 assignments across 17 countries. Yet WPP’s performance was only 5.9 percent up on its 2014 performance, compared to a 56 percent improvement from Omnicom and its agencies. Omnicom had half as many wins, but in between Telstra, Volkswagen, Yili, Unilever and others, its average wins were significantly higher.

Ogilvy leads creative and digital

Ogilvy continued to lead all creative agencies as it did in the previous year, with a similar number of wins and revenue. Ogilvy continues to have so many business tentacles with which to build relationships, it continues to lead the way in prospecting.

The top five positions for 2015 were the same five agencies as the previous year (Ogilvy, McCann, Y&R, DDB and Leo Burnett) but in a different order, with Y&R improving to third. Y&R was able to win some sizeable local business in a number of key markets.

PHD top among media agencies

Omnicom’s PHD led the way among media agencies, despite winning seven times fewer assignments than second-placed Carat. PHD led the way in some of the big global reviews including Unilever, SC Johnson and the R3-led Ferrero review.

PHD has built a viable talent pool and culture independent of its sister agency, and it's proving a powerful formula for certain clients. All of the top 10 media wins to change hands in 2015 were either part of the so-called “Mediapalooza” series of 22 global reviews through the summer of 2015, or else China assignments. China is clearly the centre of gravity for all major media reviews right now—and that market played a crucial part in many of the global pitches.

2016 outlook

R3’s projection for 2016 is that while media reviews will continue, there should be an uptick in digital AOR reviews. CMO’s are going to spend more on digital in the next five years than CIOs. Companies are going to need to review and find long-term digital partners to help them in this journey. 

CREATIVE AGENCY PERFORMANCE LEAGUE

MEDIA AGENCY PERFORMANCE LEAGUE

ASIA-PACIFIC TOP 10 CREATIVE WINS (December)

ASIA-PACIFIC TOP 10 MEDIA WINS (December)

Methodology: The New Business League has been compiled with the assistance of R3. Data from a number of multi-national agencies is collected and collated on a monthly basis and the collated data is balanced against client estimates, Nielsen ADEX, discounted to appropriate levels and then converted to a revenue estimate by R3. Please note that R3 does not audit the data provided by the agencies or the published results. All comments and queries should be sent to [email protected].