M&C Saatchi has leapt nine places up the MMS rankings, putting it
in sixth position - higher than Ogilvy & Mather and only three places
behind Saatchi & Saatchi.
In the 12 months to the end of September 1999, the agency’s billings
rose by 48 per cent to pounds 227 million, thanks to new-business wins
including Sainsbury’s and British Telecom. But the figures include the
agency’s launch campaign for Sky Digital - aired in the third quarter of
1998 - an account M&C has since lost.
Moray MacLennan, joint chief executive of M&C, said: ’When you look at
the long-established agencies that we are now above, you’ve got to be
pretty pleased. Even on our most optimistic day this time last year, we
would not have predicted filling in the gaps that we have with clients
like Rover and BT.’
The merger of Young & Rubicam with Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe in
August propelled the network’s UK agency into the top ten, putting it in
seventh place with billings of pounds 222 million.
The creation of Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R pushed O&M down to
eighth place. The latter’s billings were 15 per cent down on the same
period last year at pounds 216 million after losing the Schweppes
account and a huge portion of its Ford business.
The recent spate of consolidation in the ad industry will affect the
next set of figures even more dramatically, with the merger of Lowe
Howard-Spink and Ammirati Puris Lintas in the UK creating a shop that
will rival BMP DDB for the title of second-biggest agency in billings
terms.
Lower down the rankings, WCRS leapt five places to 13th with a 42 per
cent billings hike. HHCL & Partners had an even more impressive 85 per
cent increase to pounds 92 million, pushing it up from 24th to 20th
place. New entrants to the top 30 include Citigate Albert Frank, which
rose nine places to rank 28th, and Partners BDDH, which climbed from
33rd to 30th place.
Among the media agencies, the top ten players remained the same as last
year, but with a very different order.
MediaCom TMB - the product of last year’s merger of MediaCom and the
Media Business - replaced CIA Medianetwork in fourth place with billings
of pounds 348 million, and is expected to climb further when
new-business wins including Volkswagen and Iceland kick in.
MediaVest dropped four places to rank ninth and is likely to fall
further next year, when the loss of its pounds 21 million Mars business
takes effect.
And even the addition of Media Solutions’ billings at the end of last
year cannot mask the loss of accounts such as Somerfield and Lloyds TSB
at CIA Medianetwork, which plummeted to tenth place.
Saatchis’ media division suffered the biggest decline in billings. Its
65 per cent drop, which took it from 17th to 30th place, was down to the
consolidation of Procter & Gamble’s media buying business into Starcom
at the beginning of this year.
CREATIVE AGENCIES
Rank Agency Billings Billings Year on
99 98 year ending year ending year %
Sept 99 Sept 98 change
(pounds m) (pounds m)
1 1 Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO 406.14 347.42 16
2 3 BMP DDB 287.75 264.87 8
3 2 Saatchi & Saatchi 270.31 280.85 -3
4 5 J. Walter Thompson 266.04 255.36 4
5 6 Publicis 241.10 223.90 7
6 15 M&C Saatchi 227.11 152.95 48
7 11 Rainey Kelly/Y&R 221.66 164.19 34
8 4 Ogilvy & Mather 216.38 255.98 -15
9 8 McCann-Erickson 214.57 187.63 14
10 7 TBWA GGT Simons Palmer 213.62 215.81 -1
11 12 Lowe Howard-Spink 196.93 161.59 21
12 13 Bates UK 183.27 158.10 15
13 18 WCRS 177.60 124.49 42
14 14 Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper 175.49 155.58 12
15 10 D’Arcy 169.21 168.88 -
16 9 Grey 160.64 173.32 -7
17 16 Ammirati Puris Lintas 136.89 143.23 -4
18 19 Bartle Bogle Hegarty 136.58 122.93 11
19 17 Leo Burnett 127.92 134.74 -5
20 24 HHCL & Partners 92.35 49.80 85
21 20 Banks Hoggins O’Shea/FCB 85.48 91.25 -6
22 26 BDH TBWA 64.38 43.70 47
23 25 Collett Dickenson Pearce 58.13 49.02 18
24 21 Delaney Fletcher Bozell 51.03 51.64 -1
25 28 St Luke’s 49.03 41.14 19
26 22 Leagas Delaney 46.29 51.63 10
27 23 FCA! 45.56 50.01 8
28 37 Citigate Albert Frank 40.69 24.42 66
29 27 McCann-Erickson Manchester 39.03 41.55 -6
30 33 Partners BDDH 38.57 26.74 44
Source: MMS.
MEDIA AGENCIES
Rank Agency Billings Billings Year on
99 98 year ending year ending year %
Sept 99 Sept 98 change
(pounds m) (pounds m)
1 1 Zenith Media 575.43 536.04 7
2 2 Carat 504.28 472.73 6
3 3 BMP OMD 367.13 360.90 1
4 7 MediaCom TMB 365.44 333.23 9
5 6 MindShare 348.79 338.27 3
6 8 Initiative Media 337.82 279.79 20
7 9 Universal McCann 336.13 266.19 26
8 10 New PHD 316.76 236.62 33
9 5 MediaVest 314.30 338.77 -7
10 4 CIA Medianetwork 253.29 342.77 -26
11 12 Optimedia 217.33 182.18 19
12 11 Mediapolis 205.00 201.94 1
13 18 Manning Gottlieb Media 195.11 85.49 128
14 13 BBJ 192.24 175.13 9
15 14 Starcom 177.61 149.86 18
16 16 Motive Communications 168.62 121.02 39
17 15 Western International 162.73 141.55 14
18 32 Walker Media 121.08 23.67 411
19 22 CDP Media 76.95 52.02 47
20 24 MBS Group 61.45 42.40 44
21 21 Feather Brooksbank 51.10 54.92 -6
22 28 MediaVest Manchester 48.47 33.69 43
23 19 John Ayling & Associates 48.11 67.37 -28
24 20 Universal McCann Manchester 46.57 57.16 -18
25 25 Brilliant 42.23 42.24 -
26 27 Media Campaign Services 40.87 36.21 12
27 23 WWAV Rapp Collins Media 38.94 46.09 -15
28 26 BJK&E Media 34.75 37.01 -6
29 29 New PHD Compass 31.91 33.36 -4
30 17 Saatchi & Saatchi 31.23 91.35 -65
Source: MMS.
