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About a month after retaining 72andSunny as its creative agency of record, Activision, the video game giant behinds such franchises as Call of Duty and Destiny, has consolidated its global media account with OMD without a review.
OMD already handled media buying and planning for Activision in North America and Latin America, while GroupM’s Wavemaker (formerly known as MEC) oversaw media duties in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. An incumbent since 2011, OMD had already defended the North America media account in 2012 and 2017, while adding media buying and planning for Latin America.
A source with direct knowledge of the account attributed the consolidation to a desire to drive greater efficiency. The source told Adweek that Activision has been considering such a move over the course of the last three years or so as its overall media spending has dwindled and become increasingly concentrated in North America. The client’s recent decisions were motivated primarily by cost.
While OMD officially takes over the business effective immediately, Wavemaker will reportedly assist in the transition.
A spokesperson for the WPP agency declined to comment.
Activision spends approximately $100 million on measured media globally each year, according to international consultancy R3, and around $70 million last year in the U.S., according to Kantar Media. Parent company Activision Blizzard spent just over $95 million domestically last year.
At the time Activision selected MEC as its global media agency of record in 2009, Activision Blizzard spent around $200 million globally. OMD will be responsible for media buying and planning ahead of the October 12 release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4.
In addition to retraining 72andSunny as its creative agency of record last month, Activision also selected independent digital agency space150 as social media agency of record in June, following a review.
