INTERNATIONAL NEWS: AMV and Zenith once again top agency rankings

Agencies have enjoyed a surge in spending, according to the latest figures from ACNielsen MMS, which show substantial billings hikes for several creative and media agencies, partly fuelled by the dotcom boom. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO (AMV) and Zenith Media have both maintained pole position in their respective billings tables. AMV increased billings by 4.54 per cent to £416.81 million (about US$589 million). On the media side, Zenith rose by an impressive 15.91 per cent to £641.54 million (about US$907 million). MediaCom TMB also enjoyed a significant hike in billings of more than 27 per cent. The agency rose from sixth to third in the rankings, largely owing to its Volkswagen Audi Group win last autumn. The newly merged Starcom Motive enjoyed a leap from tenth to fifth place on the media table and a 40.87 per cent rise, taking the merged total to £421.77 million. J. Walter Thompson rose from sixth to third place on the creative table, fuelled by a 10.7 per cent rise in billings to £290.63 million. Its rise was partly due to the fall of Lowe Lintas, which moved from second place to fifth. But significant leaps or falls in the rankings were few and far between. Large increases in billings have been mostly uniform. This has resulted in agencies either maintaining their position or only moving slightly. Publicis' billings rose by 9.07 per cent to £259.02 million, yet the agency stayed in seventh place in the rankings. At the same time, OMD's 15.89 per cent billings surge was not enough to move it up from last year's fourth position. Paul Taylor, the managing director of OMD UK, said: "The dotcoms have certainly produced a catalyst in the first two quarters of this year. Inflation has been fuelled by new entrants, including the dotcoms." HHCL & Partners, too, performed well, with billings rising by 26.82 per cent to £106.14 million. Roose & Partners rose from 31st to 24th place with a billings hike of 50.78 per cent. Ted Roose, the chairman of Roose & Partners, said of the increase: "Velvet Toilet Tissue has become very active, Mitsubishi has come on stream, and there is a dotcom element with the launch of Virgin Cars." AMV AND ZENITH RETAIN THEIR HOLD ON TOP SPOTS AGENCIES Rank Agency Billings Billings Year on Year '00 '99 year ending year ending % change June 00 June 99 (pounds m) (pounds m) 1 1 AMV BBDO 416.81 398.69 4.54 2 3 BMP DDB 306.07 280.04 9.29 3 6 J. Walter Thompson 290.63 262.52 10.70 4 4 McCann-Erickson 286.40 268.70 6.58 5 2 Lowe Lintas 273.92 331.74 -17.42 6 5 Saatchi & Saatchi 259.07 267.70 -3.22 7 7 Publicis 259.02 237.47 9.07 8 8 M&C Saatchi 250.86 216.24 16.00 9 10 TBWA GGT 237.92 212.41 12.01 10 11 Rainey Kelly/Y&R 226.26 209.35 8.07 11 9 Ogilvy 219.84 214.98 2.26 12 12 Bates UK 209.71 173.52 20.85 13 15 D'Arcy 203.34 165.43 22.91 14 16 WCRS 180.77 154.98 16.63 15 13 Grey Advertising 179.82 168.46 6.74 16 14 Euro RSCG 165.88 165.61 0.16 17 18 Leo Burnett 149.49 118.67 25.97 18 17 Bartle Bogle Hegarty 138.85 130.98 6.01 19 20 HHCL & Partners 106.14 83.69 26.82 20 19 Banks Hoggins/FCB 100.42 90.83 10.54 21 27 St Luke's 77.27 41.08 88.01 22 21 BDH TBWA 53.64 62.05 -13.54 23 25 Delaney Lund 52.96 49.15 7.75 24 31 Roose & Partners 52.59 34.88 50.78 25 22 Leagas Delaney 50.67 52.14 -2.82 26 23 CDP 45.27 51.44 -12.00 27 30 Golley Slater 43.23 35.38 22.17 28 34 Mortimer Whitaker 41.75 29.99 39.21 29 26 WWAV Rapp Collins 41.12 43.97 -6.48 30 32 Duckworth Finn 35.84 34.25 4.63 Source: AC Nielsen MMS. MEDIA AGENCIES Rank Agency Billings Billings Year on Year '00 '99 year ending year ending % change June 00 June 99 (pounds m) (pounds m) 1 1 Zenith Media 641.54 553.48 15.91 2 2 Carat 560.72 492.91 13.75 3 6 MediaCom TMB 442.01 347.70 27.12 4 4 OMD UK 424.54 366.32 15.89 5 10 Starcom Motive 421.77 299.39 40.87 6 3 Universal McCann 402.43 387.66 3.81 7 5 MindShare 384.43 356.86 7.72 8 8 New PHD 319.40 311.55 2.51 9 7 Initiative Media 319.12 324.90 -1.77 10 9 MediaVest 311.50 311.10 0.12 11 11 CIA Medianetwork 261.00 264.74 -1.41 12 15 Manning Gottlieb 236.21 172.72 36.75 13 12 Optimedia 226.55 206.83 9.53 14 14 Media Planning 194.10 200.32 -3.10 15 17 Walker Media 164.33 110.28 49.00 16 13 BBJ 156.66 203.65 -23.07 17 16 Western 155.63 159.80 -2.61 18 18 MBS Group 82.15 71.70 14.57 19 28 BJK&E 63.71 31.35 103.23 20 25 Brilliant 63.38 42.47 49.23 21 21 Feather Brooksbank 63.18 56.67 11.47 22 23 MediaVest Manchester 58.88 48.05 22.52 23 19 CDP Media 58.48 70.72 -17.30 24 22 John Ayling & Associates 43.34 52.41 -17.29 25 29 Booth Lockett Makin 40.77 29.15 39.84 26 27 New PHD Compass 39.13 33.78 15.81 27 26 Media Campaign Services 35.60 38.43 -7.34 28 24 WWAV Rapp Collins Media 31.85 43.35 -26.54 29 33 TCS Media Group 30.50 22.35 36.44 30 36 AMS Media Group 29.00 20.38 42.26 Source: AC Nielsen MMS.

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