WPP tops big six new-business table in Q2

WPP led the way among the big six at the end of Q2 after adding new clients worth $2.6bn in annual billings across its media and creative agencies.

The group’s strong showing is reflected in two WPP agencies appearing in the top five of both the media and creative revenue leagues in June: Wavemaker and Mindshare in the media and VMLY&R and Ogilvy on the creative side.

Publicis Media, which includes new business won at a group level, and Wavemaker took one and two spots on the media side respectively, while Havas Worldwide and VMLY&R claimed first and second place in the creative rankings, according to Campaign’s AI tool.

R3, which works with Campaign on the advertising intelligence tool, compiles its global new-business league each month based on estimated year to date revenues. The table is ordered by the total revenue figure, which incorporates any lost revenue. All revenues reflect the annual value of an account.

Media league

Publicis Media leapt into pole position in March, after winning an AB InBev global account worth an annual $1.5bn in billings from incumbent iProspect. It maintained first place through to the end of Q2 in June.

Wavemaker ended the quarter in second place. It originally shot up 16 places to third in May after winning an Audible global account worth $500m.

Additional wins in June such as the China Under Armour account worth $10.5 million in billings helped it nab second place from Omnicom’s PHD.

June global media new-business league

*Due to time of data collection this month may include some wins from July 2022
Source: Campaign AI/R3

Despite losing second place to Wavemaker, PHD had a successful quarter. It jumped from eighth in March to second in April after snapping up the $550 million Restaurant Brands International account from incumbent MediaCom.

In June, it added 14 new clients to its roster, including the global account for 2K Games, the company behind video game NBA 2K. The account was worth $85 million in billings, the sixth largest media account to move that month.

The biggest media account to be awarded in June was the Master Kong China account, worth $200 million in billings, which was retained by WPP’s Mindshare in a competitive pitch.

However, the agency’s loss of the $400 million PepsiCo China account to Zenith in April impacted its overall revenue by $24 million, according to estimates by R3, which prevented it from claiming the second spot in the league table at the end of Q2.

Dentsu’s Carat leaped 13 places into sixth in June from 19 in May – the biggest improvement of the top 20 media agencies.

Carat was successful in three out of the top five media reviews to conclude in June: Procter & Gamble in Italy, Beiersdorf in Germany and Ergo, also in Germany, worth $164 million, $160 million and $88 million respectively. All were retentions.

Publicis Groupe’s Performics entered the media league for the first time this year, coming in at 20.

Creative league

Havas Worldwide retained its top spot in the creative league for the entirety of the second quarter of the year.

The agency started the quarter in April with $56.4 million in estimated total new-business revenue, which includes any losses, and a $14 million clear lead ahead of number two at the time, Ogilvy.

Havas Worldwide ended Q2 in June by extending its lead to a comfortable $16 million ahead of second place agency, VMLY&R, with total revenue of $80 million.

June global creative new-business league

*Due to time of data collection this month may include some wins from July 2022
Source: Campaign AI/R3

Havas Worldwide won 34 accounts in June, the largest of these being the global Fiji Tourism account worth $10 million in billings.

Ogilvy came in third place in June. It lost second place to VMLY&R in May after the latter won the Campari Group US account worth $11 million in billings.

Among VMLY&R’s wins in June was a confidential client in the Malaysian market worth $31 million in billings – the third largest account by billings to move in the month.

Ogilvy’s notable wins in the period included the Audi US account in May worth $50 million in billings. It supplemented this with 33 account wins in June.

Omnicom’s BBDO won the US account for finance and insurance company The General, worth $150 million in billings, from independent agency Highdrive.

The win was the biggest creative account to move in June and three times the size of the next largest – the $50 million Hotels.com global account picked up by Wieden & Kennedy.

The General catapulted BBDO up 38 places in the rankings, coming in at 13 from 51 in May.

Publicis Groupe’s Publicis.Sapient entered the creative league for the first time this month, coming in 14th place. According to R3, the agency won 46 accounts in June, including a European Cadillac account worth $3 million in billing.

Q2 2022 global new-business

According to R3 data, the estimated global new-business total revenue across creative and media reached $1.1 billionn by the end of June 2022 – a decrease of 32% from last year when it totalled $1.6bn. Wins also decreased by 9% year-to-year, falling from 3,760 to 3,432 between January and June 2022.

June reflects the same trend for all of the months of the second quarter, where industry revenue has declined compared with the same months of 2021. The same trend was observed in Q1, January to March.

From 1 April and 30 June, WPP came out on top among the big six with $2.6 billion in combined new-business creative and media billings. Four of its shops – Mindshare, Wavemaker, VMLY&R and Ogilvy – ended the quarter in the top five of either the creative and media leagues.

Global holding company new-business billings

As a result, WPP stormed ahead with $952 million in billings above second place Omnicom in the second quarter, which had billings of $1.6 billion.

Dentsu followed with $1.5bn, Publicis Groupe with $995 million, Havas with $674 million and Interpublic with $592 million.

Total new-business billings among the big six stood at $8 billion in Q2, a $2.4 billion decrease (23%) from last quarter where it was $10.4 billion.

The figures tally with research from UK intermediary AAR, which found there was a 31% drop in the number of agency appointments made during the first six months of 2022 compared with the same period in 2021.