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

Rank this month	Rank last month	Agency	Recent wins	Estimated YTD win revenue (US$m)	Recent losses	Estimated overall YTD revenue (US$m)	No.of Wins
1	1	Ogilvy	Bae Systems Singapore, Carnival Cruise China, KPMG China	85.8	Midea International Hong Kong	79.4	524
2	2	McCann WorldGroup	Nestle Philippines Project, Thermos Japan Project, Petronas Group BTL Malaysia	68.2	Carnival Cruise China	59.9	468
3	4	Y&R	ICICI India, Namco Japan Project, Wendy's India, JSW India Project	62.5	Bacardi Breezer Thailand	54.7	167
4	3	DDB	Electrolux Australia, CapitalBiO China, SIM GE Singapore	57.8	Yuhan Korea	51.5	274
5	5	Leo Burnett	DTAC Thailand, VW Korea, Hilton (CN,JP,KR,SG), Coway Malaysia	48.1	Anta Sportswear China	44.0	236
6	6	J Walter Thompson	Wei Quan China, Megabagna India, JNJ Daktarin&Mylanta Indonesia	47.5	Singapore Tourism Global	39.8	268
7	7	Dentsu	Qantas Australia, MetLife Korea Project, Toyota Australia	44.7	Junlebao China	38.6	277
8	8	BBDO	RACQ Australia, Emirates Japan, Kang Wang Bayer China	40.3	General Mills India	32.2	88
9	9	Publicis	Tiger Beer Australia, Jing Dong China Project, Boehringer China Project	36.3	Cebu Pacific Philippines	31.5	308
10	10	TBWA	Virgin Mobile Australia, Singapore Tourism Global, Moet Hennessy China Project	29.5	Tigerair(Social) Singapore	27.5	160

 

MEDIA AGENCY PERFORMANCE LEAGUE

Rank this month	Rank last month	Agency	Recent wins	Estimated YTD win revenue  (US$m)	Recent losses	Estimated overall YTD Revenue  (US$m)	No.of Wins
1	1	PHD	Unilever Greater China, Al Futtaim Group UAE, Carnival Cruises China	54.0	Banyan Tree Singapore	51.3	78
2	2	Carat	Mondelez APAC, Energy Trust(Buying) China, Lotterywest Australia	58.4	BMW China	49.8	481
3	3	Mindshare	Unilever Asia(Ex Greater China), BUPA (Social Media) Australia, Kellogg's NZ	51.6	DTCM Dubai	41.4	114
4	4	Starcom MediaVest	Coca-Cola Thailand, NTUC First Campus Singapore, Unisim Singapore	39.5	Optus Australia	30.7	49
5	5	Zenith-Optimedia	Mercedes-Benz China, Scoot Airline China, HomeShop 18 India	32.2	Telenor India	27.5	109
6	6	Universal McCann	Optus Australia, JNJ APAC, Malaysia Airlines Malaysia, H&M Japan	32.4	Tempur Japan	25.1	190
7	7	MediaCom	General Mills Thailand, Promise Hong Kong, Lazada Philippines	28.2	Danone Nutricia Australia	22.4	91
8	8	Dentsu Media	Disney SEA, Baidu China, Bridgestone Korea, Acura Brand Promotion China	23.7	Indosat Indonesia	20.3	211
9	9	Havas Media	CapitaLand Singapore, DTCM Dubai, Lemon Square China, CIMB Niaga Indonesia	25.5	Shyam Telecom India	19.2	91
10	10	OMD	Danone China, Telenor India, WMF China, Pandora Singapore	39.6	CapitaLand Singapore	11.2	148

 

ASIA-PACIFIC TOP 10 CREATIVE WINS (December)

Agency	Account	Area
Dentsu	Toyota	Australia
Fred + Farid	Audi	China
M&C Saatchi	Optus	Australia
Big Red	Optus	Australia
TBWA	Virgin Mobile	Australia
Y&R	ICICI	India
Y&R	Namco	Japan
Ogilvy	Carnival Cruise	China
DDB	Electrolux	Australia
Leo Burnett	DTAC	Thailand

 

ASIA-PACIFIC TOP 10 MEDIA WINS (December)

Agency	Account	Area
PHD	Al Futtaim Group	UAE
MEC	Danone (Dugro, Mamil)	Malaysia
OMD	Danone	China
Carat	Energy Trust (Buying)	China
Havas Media	CapitaLand	Singapore
Ikon Communications	Specialty Fashion Group (Buying)	Australia
Mindshare	BUPA (Social Media)	Australia
Mindshare	Kellogg's	New Zealand
MEC	Darya-Varia	Indonesia
ZenithOptimedia	HomeShop 18	India

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].