Publicis climbs the highest in APAC media rankings following Kenvue win

Publicis Media has made a meteoric rise in the December APAC media rankings, jumping from 25th to the sixth position, largely attributed to its win of the Kenvue account in November. Kenvue, the consumer healthcare business spun off from Johnson & Johnson, had called a pitch earlier in 2024, resulted in the account moving from IPG to Publicis Media. According to Campaign Red  data, the $208.9 million win, spanning 12 APAC markets, represents the biggest account movement in the December rankings.

 

Meanwhile, PHD continues to hold its first position bolstered by Q1 and Q2 retentions in China, including SAIC Volkswagen, Volkswagen Group and HP (Hewlett Packard).

 

PHD has managed the SAIC Volkswagen account since 2020, and its renewal of the $310 million contract in Q1, along with the retention of the $110 million Volkswagen Group account in Q2, has solidified the agency's leadership position in the APAC region. In November, PHD also won the Bosch China media account, valued at $35 million from incumbent Carat. The win, following a Q2 pitch, takes effect January 2025.

In November, Omnicom Media Group (OMG) secured the Tata Motors account in India, valued at $78.3 million in new-business billings. This win places OMG 10th in the December rankings, with $135.3 million in total billings, as tracked by Campaign Red and COMvergence, which measures wins, retentions, and losses.

The Tata Motors win followed a six-month competitive pitch involving agencies such as Madison, Starcom, and Dentsu. The incumbent, Interpublic’s Lodestar UM, lost the account, continuing a challenging trend for IPG in the region. Earlier this month, Omnicom announced it is set to acquire IPG to create the world’s biggest agency group. 

 

 

Further highlights

 

The top three spots remain unchanged compared to November with PHD retaining its leadership driven by a robust portfolio while Publicis' Spark Foundry retains its second spot on the back of big wins such as the $400 million Yum Brands (China) media win and Unilever (APAC). Starcom rounds out the top three, continuing to benefit from its global Lego win, as well as Dyson and Wyeth Nutrition (China).

 

Despite recent reputational challenges in China—and losing key accounts such as Yum on the back of a bribery scandal—GroupM has rebounded strongly with its $311.2 million mega Amazon win in APAC and EMEA. The agency continues to occupy the fourth position.

 

OMD takes the fifth spot, bolstered by big wins earlier in the year for Mercedes-Benz Group (China), Yili (China), Michelin (China). 

 

Independent agencies in Australia are a shining success story that make steady progress in these rankings. 

 

Atomic 212 has expanded its remit with O’Brien Glass, adding paid search and SEO to its existing main media planning and buying role. The win worth $0.2 million sees the agency hold strong in the top 20 and caps off a strong year in terms of new business. Meanwhile, fellow Australian independent agency Nunn Media stands firm in 15th position bolstered by a Q1 win of Spotlight Retail Group worth $59.5 million. The agency founded by Matt Nunn most recently acquired Sydney-based digital agency Indago Digital in early November.

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Campaign Red has produced the APAC media rankings, using direct findings from COMvergence, to calculate each agency's overall media billings sum, taking into account both wins and losses for the period. As it stands, the formula is (wins + retentions)—losses.

December refers to the publishing month of the rankings by Campaign. The data covers all 2024 account wins reported by COMvergence as of 2 December 2024. Next month’s rankings (January) will include accounts reported after this date. Reported figures may be revised in the future as more information becomes available. 

*The rankings focus on agencies; however, wins may be reported at a divisional level only or at a bespoke team level. For now, Campaign is keeping divisions and bespoke teams in the rankings as separate entities for those wins. This is to provide the most complete picture of new-business activity, in line with COMvergence reporting.